Spring Quilt Market Updates--New UPDATES FOR Monday!

 If you see more let me know, I will add them here.....

Thanks To KPKM for keeping us updated..

Pam and Monica ( who did up the graphic)
buzzing isn't it...? lol

Pam's blog

http://traditionalpastimes.com/blog/?p=736

http://patches.typepad.com/notes_from_the_patch/2011/05/quilt-market-day-2-celebrity-sightings.html

http://patches.typepad.com/notes_from_the_patch/2011/05/quilt-market-day-3-.html ( best sew far)

http://fatquartershop.blogspot.com/

http://fatquartershop.blogspot.com/2011/05/spring-quilt-market-2011-day-2.html ( update for Sunday)

http://www.hawthornethreadsblog.com/2011/05/spring-quilt-market-2011-salt-lake-city.html
http://www.hawthornethreadsblog.com/2011/05/first-peek-lizzie-house-and-her-1001-peeps.html


thanks to Sharon for more...

http://crazyoldladiesquilts.blogspot.com/ (very first line of fabric - Going Coastal)


http://www.jaybirdquilts.com/ (first time at Market)

http://beeinmybonnetco.blogspot.com/ (First line of fabric)


http://fredashive.blogspot.com/

 All about All Dolled up sponsored by Riley Blake.. ( a must read) look at the girly blocks
http://alldolledupinslc.blogspot.com/

Dolled up quilt from Riley Blake Utah Designers..
 see more detail on their blog.. they also won another reward 2011 STAR reward....
warmest congrats to our sponsor du jour!

Tall grass prairie studio has some great pics


Ryan Walsh with star of the show quilt


piecenquilt. ( check out missy here)

Part 2 day 2

Pat Sloan has an update


Ohhh Look Moose quilt report

Joy of quilting update ( good one)

Sherry at Quilting Life...

.spunsugarquilt.

Quilt Taffy...and check out their flicker too...wow!

Judy's first time at Market...From Green Fairy Quilts

BLOGGER Issues...

Helllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllo!

As you are aware Blogger has had some issues these past few days, All posts and comments that were made after May 11th have been removed temporarily. I noted JohnALee post from Scrappleyard is missing..
I have made contact with blogger and they are working at putting them back...they have only been deleted temporarily...

In the meantime I have rescheduled guest for today and tomorrow until they have sorted out all their maintenance issues...

You will note on your own blogs anything you have written after May 11th also has been removed..Be assured they will return...

Go and stitch, sew, enjoy your day...

See you soon...

NOTE: the posts that were lost...they will be returned, sew you do not have to re-write them...I was told also that all the comments will return too... ( cause I have a giveaway for the thread....??? lol)

Madame Samm

Every Quilt has a Story....

Hi ya'll!

I'm back.

It's John'aLee ...

from...

I thought I'd share with you today...

my journey into

the world of

Quilt Business.

It all started with one quilt.

Meet Me In Paris

This quilt...

made my business.

And the funny thing is...

I not only designed it way before I even had a thought

of going into 'the' business...

but I almost...

GAVE UP

on it!

While I was working on it...

I had finished the center piece

at Quilt Night

with my girlfriends...

when there was a knock on the door.

A man was asking for me...

so the lady of the home came and got me.

Before I could say anything...

papers were shoved into my hands...

and the man said...
"You've been served!"

I was not only shocked...

I was terribly embarrassed.

The ladies wanted to know what was going on...

so I sat down with the 19 page 

Restraining Order...

restraining me from my youngest child.

Tears streaming down my face...

I shared with the rest about 

the 'darling ex.'

The man initiating the papers...

who

walked out on me 

and left with his secretary 

when the kids were just 3,4, 7, and 8...

many years previously...

and currently owed more than

$100,000 in back child support.

To make a short story out of this...

I will tell you that I stood up in court...

stood my ground....

and would not bow down to the judge

or my attorney

who both wanted me to just agree

to never spank my child again.

I told them I would not 'please man' 

and turn my back on what I knew was right.

I eventually won

and brought my child back home...

but it was this quilt that went on to

become my best seller...

and still is.

I call it God's Quilt.

And I thought I'd show you pic's of

it done up in

several different colors:

Made from one of our Batik kits...

This one is made from a Mary Rose line of fabric...

In this picture you can see two of them I have made. One on the show wall and one on the table below it.

This one on the left was made by Nan Nay of Panguitch. She let me borrow it for a show run.

Another one out of a different Mary Rose line that I made for my dear Friend Jenette who had lost her husband to cancer.

Made from one of our April Cornell kits....hanging at the Pueblo Colorado show.

Made from one of our kits by my dear friend Marla McDermitt

A picture of what our 'Meet Me In Paris' kits look like made up for a show.

I had no idea how much this quilt would bless me.

We have literally sold 

'thousands' ...

of kits, rulers and patterns

off of it...

and it is still our number one all time best seller.

I continue to design custom kits

for people all over the country.

Several people have come up to me at shows

and have  shared their own

"Meet Me In Paris" story with me.

Today in Paducah...

it happened again.

A lady came up to me

and told me she bought a kit a few years ago

from me when she was a new quilter...

just learning.

And she couldn't believe she could make it.

She has gone on to make several Meet Me In Paris' quilts...

but the story that touched my heart

was when she told me about making one for her mom...

and presenting it to her just a few days before she passed away.

She said her mother wept when she saw it  and said...

"That is the most beautiful quilt I have ever seen."

I've heard several stories of it being used

to raise money for breast cancer research...

one such group was the San Francisco Quilt Guild...

who raised over $6,000 on their raffle quilt...

and even had it written up in their newspaper.

Several people have also one 'firsts' at Quilt Shows 

all over the country who have made it and entered...

(Hmmm...I'm one of those who feel I'm not good enough to enter a quilt into a show...)

This last year it was written about on the front page...

of 

The Wall Street Journal!

It was a story about  truckers who quilt.

And the one being interviewed was a customer of mine..

who has the back of his semi set up as a quilt studio...

and he was working on Meet Me In Paris when they

took pics!

My soul is touched...

my heart is humbled.

I thank you all 

for sharing in with my story.

And the moral of the story...

is...

don't give up on a quilt.

When I was so discouraged and embarrassed about

being served a restraining order in front of my

quilting girlfriends no less....

even though I wanted to give up...

something inside me inspired

me to find the spirit

to continue on.

We never know...

how our own God given...

creative talents...

will touch another person's life!

So carry on dear friends!!

Sending Quilting Hugs and Love...

Editors note:  Winner is Chris Kanter, she has been notified this morning, sorry for not letting you all know...thanks for entering too.. There will be more threads to give away...sew come on back...  Chris, I will be mailing this out tomorrow with a few extras. patterns, books, and needles... Do you need some Thread? Since John'aLee uses lot's of it and quite a bit of pastels.. Why not a GIVEAWAY of these fine sewing  embroidery threads by  Presencia, did I tell you I love their threads...all of them..... And as always there will always be extra goodies thrown in.. ( I am known for that) Thanks Presencia for being a great sponsor... All Followers and Subscribers are eligible... Tell me, are you thinking of incorporating  embroidery into your quilts?  If sew, describe what you are stitching,.  John'aLee has some fine BOM at her website and store The scrappy apple yard store and visit her blog You will smell the apple blossoms Thanks John'ALee and Presencia... Winner Announced Monday Morning May 16th....

BLOGGER has put up the posts but all of your comments are missing and there were over 100....if you come by and like to comment again...I bet Johna'Lee would be thrilled...and we can still have the giveaway... I was only able to capture about 40 from my delete file....the other 60 are already somewhere in world wide web.... ( sorry about this JALee....)

Sharing Threads

I would like to thank Madame Samm for having me back again. This is Sharon from VroomansQuilts who shocked you with the shopping trip. Today I am sharing my family threads with you. This post is shared with my mother, Arlene, who has been sewing since she was 12 yrs. old, was a reknown seamstress, and began quilting in 1965. She was inducted into the Catskill Mountain Quilter's Hall of Fame in 1987 and one of the founding members of the Schoharie Valley Piecemakers Quilt Guild (1987). But my mother didn't teach me to quilt. My knowledge is from the computer: on-line resources and bloggers. BUT, we share common threads.


BABY QUILT

Arlene - This scrappy string baby quilt is from 'Bright Ideas for Lap Quilts' by Georgia Bonesteel - 1990.

Sharon - This is a scrappy string spider web baby quilt - 2011. (Bonnie Hunter)













COLOR PLAY

Arlene - This 'Crayon Box' quit is from 'Baby Quilts from Grandma' by Carolann Palmer - 1988.

Sharon - This is 'Broken Crayons' that was inspired by my granson's love of matching my broken crayons with frabric to learn his colors - 2011. (original)








FLOWERS

Arlene - 'Summer Blossoms' from 'Summer Weekend' by Black Bird Designs - 2001

Sharon - 'Jezebel' from Red Rooster Studios - 2011.














PLAIDS

Arlene - 'Serendipity Sampler' from 'Simple Comforts Lap Quilts' by Kim Diehl - 2009.

Sharon - 'Going North and South' an adaptation of a Quilt Along from PatchKat Blog - 2010














DIMENSIONS

Arlene - combination of stack and whack and dimentional boxes - original - 2010.

Sharon - A play with the Hidden Wells technique and piano key border - 2010.














BIRDS

Arlene - original teaching technique of cutting and sewing several Birds in the Air blocks using Fat Quarters -

Sharon - 'American Birds' from Silverlinings by Linda Hibbert - 2009. (my year of learning paper piecing)








ORIENTAL

Arlene - collection of Asian frabics in original circle design - 2011.

Sharon - 'Lena's Poppies' designed for the memory of my greatgrandmother's love of poppies - 2010








LADIES

Arlene - 'Let's Dance' - original design of southern belles on the dance floor (made of the old pattern - the bow tie) - 2004

Sharon - the piece that led me to quiting - original cross stitch design for 'Celebration of African Women' in 2008. I experimented with fabric framing, thread techniques, beading, and quilted the whole piece by hand with silk and metalic thread.

Although we had different beginnings and endings, we share many common threads in a love of a heritage craft. I am sharing with my daughter and friends. So no matter who shared their thread with you, pass it on to someone else. Our paths may lead us on a different journey, but they all started with the same thread.


Sewingly Yours,
Sharon

What do I do now?

Hello! I’m Val Laird, spending time with you today from my little bit of paradise in Queensland, Australia.

My dilemma started when I was asked by a magazine editor to rework a design I had submitted for publication.  The request was that it be made using a beautiful range of fabric called “Garden Party” by Blackbird designs for Moda.  I fell in love with the range and decided to buy at least a set of 40 Fat Quarters. Then I thought further and realized I wouldn’t have any long width-of-fabric strips, so purchased a Jelly Roll as well:

The wall-hanging was duly completed and I loved the way it turned out, showcasing the beautiful fabric. It was simply called “The Herb Garden”.  I love fresh herbs and had taken the sketchbook out to my herb garden and the project was born from there. The editor must have liked it too as it ended up on the front cover of the magazine:

So ‘project complete’ and I had used a miniscule amount of those Fat Quarters and a whole 2½ inches off most of the Jelly Roll strips!  What do I do now?  I couldn’t justify spending all that money and just put the fabric in the already overcrowded stash!

Well, the obvious answer was to make a quilt! Now, before I show you the quilt I made, you have to understand a couple of things about me.  Firstly, embroidery and appliqué is top of my “to do” list, and piecing elaborate large quilts is right at the bottom of the agenda.  Second, I am fairly impatient, get bored quickly and like ‘instant’ projects.  The math is easy = simple lap quilt:

Fan Heart and Charm quilt

That used up a bit more of those fat quarters, but made no impression at all on the Jelly Roll. I had admired the lovely braid quilts for some time, but had never tried my hand at that technique, so out with the Jelly Roll and the Hearts & Braid Table runner used up lots more of the strips:

I had a bit of braiding left over, so “waste not, want not” – into a bag they went:

Sweet Harmony Bag

And still there were mountains of fabric left.  What do I do now? I guess I could have made another quilt, but I’m only good for one quilt every two or three months.  By making smaller projects in between quilts, I find I don’t get sick of the fabric.  Also a quick turn-around keeps me interested and enthused about a project. So another wall-hanging was next in line.  Fans again – love ’em:

Fantasia

And still there was a lot of fabric left!  I decided to rework my most popular pattern – the Garden Dreams Calendar.  The Jelly Roll strips started to diminish as I made all the Prairie Points and the borders for the little mini-quilts:

Garden Dreams Calendar

A blogging friend designed a lovely bag with all the proceeds from the sale of the pattern going to mission work in the Philippines.  What better fabric to use to make the bag for DD?

There was enough of those Jelly Roll bits and pieces left to cut a border for a cushion.  The centre featured some of the lovely roses in a Broderie Perse technique:

Persian Rose Cushion

Christmas loomed, so a Drawer Sachet was quick to whip up for a gift:

Still had some of those fat quarters left.  A quick patchwork table runner would be useful:

Charmed Life Table runner

Now what about those Jelly Roll ends?  A couple of Fun and Fruity mug rugs were a delight to make:

Now the Fat Quarters were looking decidedly thin!  There was enough fabric left to cut a set of 30 charm squares for a giveaway I was hosting:

There was still a bit left on those Fat Quarters, but most of the gorgeous fabric was gone by now.  I was left with the colours that weren’t my favourites – yellow, brown and white backgrounds.  We needed a new Breakfast Cloth, but would I be happy with it in those colours?  Put it together and see – yes, there were enough pink roses on the fabrics to keep me happy:

With a clear conscience, I sorted the bits and pieces that were left into colours, and put them in the “itty bitty” scrap boxes, happy that I had used all that gorgeous fabric, with such a variety of projects, without getting to the stage where I never wanted to see the range again. (Of course, I made other projects in different fabrics in between the designs above … and moved house … so there wasn’t much chance of getting bored!)

And to thank you for taking the time to read right to the end of this post, I am having

a GIVEAWAY - in fact, three giveaways! 

Yes, there will be three winners. The prize will be one of my e-patterns (a pattern that is e-mailed) for each winner.

To enter the giveaway, go to my website pattern pages and see if you can find a pattern that you would like, then leave a comment at the end of this post, and another comment on my blog, telling me which one of my patterns you would like to win. The three winners will receive whatever pattern they choose from my range. 

Giveaway closes 12 noon Sunday 15th May, (Aust EST).

Thank you for allowing me to share with you today. I hope this post has inspired you with ways you could manicure your stash of pre-cuts!

Blessings

Val