Grab and Go Bag

Have you received your copy of the Summer edition of Primitive Quilts and Projects?  Inside you will find this fun bag that I designed to carry my iPad or my current appliqué project.    

The design wraps aroung to the back of the bag as you can see in this construction photo, 

And it has plenty of pockets inside, including slotted pockets so you can just slip a credit card and ID in and you'll be traveling light- and hands free since you can make the strap long enough to go cross-body!  I never hang onto a purse anymore if I don't have to!


You can purchase a kit for this project, including all of the Japanese fabrics, wool, and magnetic snap closure to make this great bag on my website!  And if you don't have a subscription for the magazine, you can get your copy here


This time of year especially, I don't like to have to carry around and keep track of a purse, but if I'm wearing it, it's no bother!  It would have been perfect to have this weekend when my sisters Kathy and Sue and I had a sisters evening the other day to meet up at Arbor Crest Winery in Spokane.  It's always beautiful up there with a view of the Spokane river and mountains, and they were having a tulip festival with live music.  We had a fun late afternoon visit and we got to sit outside and enjoy the sunshine, tulips and music.  They have a summer concert series that we'll probably be taking advantage of too!  

I have a very hard time resisting the flowers this time of year!  Everything is looking so beautiful!  Tom rolled his eyes at me but loaded up the half whiskey barrel for me to plant with some perennials- don't you think it looks great in the back of the wagon?  I will wait a bit before I add any annuals but already they are so cheerful!

I've been working on a new crazy book for Spring Market next month and have a fun new crazy flower to go along with the crazy busy bee and other fun favorite things!  But I'm hoping to take a break later today and maybe talking my husband into adding another flower to my sunflower grow-through.  It's like a metal fence to keep the sunflowers upright as they grow-you can see the dead ones from last year that we left for the birds and haven't cleared out yet!  But I do so enjoy collecting stuff (junk) and then having Tom turn it into flowers!  But for now, I guess it's best I that I get back to my "fabric" flowers and get some quilting done! Enjoy your weekend!

Primitive Style: Folk Art Quilts and Other Finery

Another new book just in is from one of the editors of Primitive Quilts and Projects magazine, Jenifer Gaston who has put together this delightful assortment of folk art projects for us to enjoy! Published by Martingale That Patchwork Place.  Wool is such a joy to work with, and now to have all of these great designs to choose from!  The projects range from a small pincushion, needle roll, or fun sewing pouch to rugs, mats, and larger quilts!  

A couple of  my favorites include the "Water the Flowers" quilt above, but I also really like the "Flowering Vines" table runner and the "Pumpkin Harvest" mat.  This is a fabulous book!  Be sure to order you copy here!

Terrific T-shirt Quilts

I just received my Terrific T-Shirt Quilts books, and just in time for March Madness!  When Karen asked if I would submit a quilt for this book, the logical choice for t-shirts was to raid my boy's basketball t-shirts.  We are Gonzaga Bulldog fans in our household; the boys have been going to the Gonzaga basketball camps since, well, since they were old enough to go, so I had plenty of shirts to choose from!  However, Zack was refusing to part this his Adam Morrison "Can't Stop the Stache" shirt but luckily my sister-in-law let me have hers!  Ross was a bit more generous and even let me cut up his t-shirt with the autographs on the back, which I fussy cut and put in the star centers, bottom right.  They swear one of those autographs belongs to Ronny Turiaf, a Zag favorite who went on to play for the LA Lakers, but who can read the signatures?  The boys figured out each signature from the year on the t-shirt and the jersey numbers he put with his name!

I added the shoe appliqué since I was reminiscing about the kid's basketball seasons of times past and of tripping over all the shoes that the boys discarded at the back door, usually with stinky, balled-up socks to accompany them!  Just FYI, the socks on the quilt are clean and scent-free!  It was very fun, and a great trip down memory lane to put this quilt together!  If you've never made a t-shirt quilt, which I hadn't, I would encourage you to join the fun! And while your stitching, you can even watch the Zags in their own 6 part series on HBO titled "Gonzaga, the March to Madness".  Enjoy!

Buy Your Buggy Barn Books Here!

There has been a buying frenzy for the "Crazy Cats" book this week! Thank you to all of you who have come to visit my store! But evidently, some of you still don't realize that even though the Buggy Barn is closed, that you can still purchased what books are left through me on my site!  I still have stock of all almost all of the books and patterns.  Sadly, some titles are out of print already, but there are still lots of great books out there in case you missed them, and the good news is that it's still not too late!   

And be sure to check out my very latest crazy book, Completely Crazy!  I will be back in Deer Park on Monday with Ed & Jean's Quilt Shop teaching a Piece Like Crazy class and teaching from the new book!  We always have lots of fun when we get together!  And, I hear that Ed & Jean have some of the coveted now out-of print Undeniably Crazy books left! So if you are looking for one, give them a call!  And, when I was teaching at Prickly Pear Quilt Shop in Helena, MT, Connie had a couple of the similarly coveted, now out-of print Crazy 'til the Cows Come Home books!  Contact info for both of these stores is listed on my site under the classes tab since I'll be going back to both shops for future classes!

There will be several people in class working on my new "When Pigs Fly" quilt. If you've been waiting for a kit, they have now been recut and are ready to ship! Be sure to check out all of the kits available on my site!  And  I've recently added a corrections on my website so be sure to check there for any pattern/book corrections.

I've just received productions samples of one of my current lines, "Hip to be Square" which is due be in stores in April.  This is a great basic line with some really cute blenders and I can't wait to get started!  The plaids are also on their way so I'm waiting on them, but have a new design waiting!  Yes, it's time to be thinking of a new crazy book....it's just never crazy enough around here! 

Take care, and hope to talk to you again soon!

I can't believe we're almost halfway through our first month of the new year and I'm just now telling you Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas, too!  It seems the whole of 2015 has been one big wonderful blur as the New Year rolls over and One Sister finds she's made it throughout her first year in business and is looking forward another great year!  You've all been such a blessing and I've so enjoyed my first year as One Sister! Thank you all so much for making it possible with your continued friendship and support!


My fingers have been itching to get to stitching! Although we had a great Christmas break, December  was a bit hectic with the waterfall in the kitchen courtesy of a leaky roof, and no mail service (so no shipping!) because the post office had no roof, intermittent internet service due to the storm, fabric deadlines, and a nearly missed magazine submission, I just wanted, no needed, to sew!  But first, I promised myself I'd tidy up my work area. You see, I was so use to picking fabric for my quilts at the shop and being able to see it all at once, that I still want to see it all at once, and so yes, I usually have a terrible mess around here!  After this past year I realize how much easier it is to store fabric on bolts rather than have to refold and neatly put it away into a tidily stacked color pile!  And then there's the issue of scraps...just how big (or tiny) does the piece of fabric have to be before you can throw it away?  And how do you store all those scraps? Mine are in a basket at the end of my cutting table and it was making me "crazy"!  

But no more!  Now look how tidy they are because they're all cut up and half-way stitched into a quilt!  I've wanted to do something different with the hexies from the "Note to Self" line and this pineapple version fit right into  my need to use up my scraps!  I've got plans for some appliqué on the cream blocks and will keep you posted as it comes along.  But don't you agree this is a great way to wrap up all of my projects from 2015?

Applique class project

I got side tracked from my piecing and have been working on fabric this past week, color correcting Harvest Blessings and Hip to be Square, the next two One Sister lines that will be in stores in April (yeah! I can hardly wait!), working on a new flannel line, and starting a couple of small appliqué projects for my upcoming appliqué classes in either Moses Lake or Deer Park.  And yes, with all of this appliqué in the works, I do have a new appliqué book planned!  

I'm not the only one who's been stitching like crazy! Sister Kathy is expecting another grand baby and so its time for a quilt! 

Her kids picked the "Big Dipper" quilt from the cover of the  Stir Crazy book.  

 This is a great book with this flying Santas and the Christmas tree skirt as well as Bunny Trail and Winter Blooms. This is Ron and Sarah's first child and they picked a way easier quilt this time around! You might remember the wedding quilt Kathy was talked into making for those two...what we don't do for our children!

Folk Art Blooms hung very briefly on my wall for Christmas before it was sent out on a trunk show to Prickly Pear Quilts in Helena, Mt.  I believe Connie was going to be making kits so if anyone is interested, give her a call! I can guarantee it makes a beautiful wedding quilt!  And it's going to be wedding season before we know it! And that means lake season! Warm, sunny weather season!   New fabric season!  Henry Glass just released my two newest fabric lines from One Sister:  "Better at the Lake" and "Linen Closet".  Better at the Lake is a fun, whimsical line that has a fun background piece with kids and dogs running and jumping in the lake!  It turned out really cute!  The panel makes up into a cute quilt or pillows that are calling for an Adirondack chair!  This line is set to deliver this summer around the same time as my very first book with Martingale, "Crazy at the Lake Cabin" (I think that's what was decided!) The Linen Closet has great new backgrounds-I'm really please with the new prints and hope you will be, too!  Your local shops should be seeing and purchasing these lines now so be sure to let them know to look for these lines!  OK, that's it for now!  Everybody back to stitching!   

A watched pot never boils...that's just completely crazy!

I had hoped to be shipping my new book, "Completely Crazy" by now, but just like the watched pot that refuses to boil when you stand by waiting for it to do so, my books have yet to arrive!  I was told the press went down last week and they are waiting for a part so it will be the end of this week, around Nov 20th.  So another mom-ism, "all things worth having are worth waiting for" will have to be put into play....But truth be told, I'm not a very good wait-er, as in having patience, not as in serving someone a meal, although, I probably wouldn't be very good at balancing a tray full of food either.  I'd be way better picking up the empties when it wouldn't matter (as much) if I dropped them!   But I digress!  

Here's a picture of me and my husband, Tom in my booth at market.  I thought he might enjoy spending our anniversary going to sample spree (not!) and  since he'd also spent time prior to market trying to herd Sonny the pig for my photographer, Bruce and me,  I thought it might be better to take him to dinner and feed him instead! 

Add caption

 Trying to get a photo for the book cover, Bruce and I had visions dressing Sonny the pig in googles and angel wings and Sonny was having none of it!  Pretty soon, neither was Tom! But he's a really good sport and will do just about anything for me! Including trying to herd a pig!  

 

Another crazy project he and my son Zack tackled this summer for me was to help me lay the pavers for this crazy star in our driveway....now if that's not completely crazy...it took a pick axe to chisel across the driveway after all the years of the gravel being compacted.....I know, I know,  I've heard it all already! What was I thinking? But I really like my star! I'm thinking it's marvelous!  We'll see how it makes it through it's first winter and the snowplowing!  (But I'm pretty sure I'll still think it's marvelous!)  

So, to tide us all over until the book arrives,  did you notice this cute table runner, "Christmas Cottage" in your December edition of American Patchwork and Quilting?  I just love Lynette's Santa fabrics from her "Winter Village" line, and used them in my Santa quilts, but if you decide, that like me, you need a kit for this project, or just have to have some fabric, you can get it on my site.  Hopefully that will keep us all busy until the book comes!  

Home from Market with "Stitches to Savor"

I was lucky enough to snag one of these "Stitches to Savor" books by Sue Spargo while I was at Quilt Market last week, and I've been paging through this absolutely gorgeous book, each time finding something different to marvel over!  

What I've always admired about Sue, besides the fact that she's such a genuinely nice person, are her absolutely unique quilting and stitching abilities.  As a quilter, I love to look at the way she blends, not just color, but textures: she uses wool and cotton, and adds in velvets and brocades. You can see in this picture the interesting mix of cotton and wools as a base. And then she goes even further, and layers on the texture with her beautiful handwork.  

Here too, in her "Travel Journal", she mixes the textures of her threads with simply stunning results!  

Just look at these animals!  I will admit, that I'm not much of a stitcher, with my pitiful chain or back stitch! Not that I don't have ambitions to make these long-haired angora sheep one day!  But seriously?  I'm not sure I'll ever accomplish all this!  But I can dream!

So my hope for the future is that I'll devote myself with more than a little determination and challenge myself to pick one of my Sue Spargo kits out of my suitcases and get busy working on it!   I just need to keep paging through this book......and remember Sue keeps telling me it will all get done; I just need to keep taking "one stitch at a time"!


And today, November 2, the wait is over and you too, can have you very own copy!  You can order it here.   Be sure to check out my selection of wool thread; this is the same brand that Sue recommends and it's wonderful to work with!  That's all for today, but I will be back later this week with more from market!