Cincinnati

What you see in this photo is an assortment of yo-yo's. Hand gathered little circles that are drawn up and measure about two inches before they are flattened into this shape and are made into "quilts". No backing or batting is normally added, just hundreds or even thousands of gathered circles that are stitched together edge-to-edge to complete the project.

But do you really know what this is a photo of?

I will show you the finished project at the bottom of this post. It was one of the entries in the Quilt Festival Show in Cincinnati.

We were vending at the Cincinnati show at the Duke Energy Convention Center. If you look closely you can see the edge of our double booth over in aisle 5, across from the Superior Threads booth. This photo only shows our end of the convention center. There was plenty more to enjoy at the opposite end of the huge room.

The show set-up was wonderful and there was plenty of quilting eye-candy. Being across from Superior Threads booth meant that as I demonstrated in our booth, this was the view that I had - not bad, not bad at all!

The quilts in their booth were wonderful and I was especially fond of the delectible mountain piece with the red border. The quilting was spectacular, but there is something about the way that the fabric shades through the colors that really appealed to me. After seeing it for 4 straight days, I know that I am going to have to make my own version of it. I will have to "put it on the list" of things I want to do as soon as I have time.

Do you have a list of quilts that you plan to make "someday"? My list includes a scrappy log cabin with lots and lots of tiny rails as well as a batik double wedding ring that doesn't even have to be a whole quilt, I would be happy with a table runner. I should probably plan to finish those twin quilts for our guest room that I have been working on for three, no four.... ok, about SEVEN years, but first I want to make another set of baby quilts for the twins that our daughter is expecting. Before that, I have to finish the pieces that I am working on for Quilt Market next month...... it is nice to know that there is no shortage of quilting in my future!

Now to show you what I will NOT be doing with my quilting time. I will not be making yo-yo's.... but if I did, I would hope that I would make something as unique as this.

Pretty amazing huh?

Doesn't that make you wonder where ideas like this come from?

Do you think the quiltmaker saw a handfull of yo-yo's laying on the table and thought, "Gee, that looks like my daughters eyes"? Maybe she has an aversion to sewing squares together or thought "Squares, been there, done that, I think I will photo shop circles into a scalloped edge quilt.

Maybe she had a few hundred yellow yo yo's left over from another project?

What is your best guess as to how something as unique as this gets started?

Where Have I Been?

Several people have asked.

More than a few have insinuated that I am way behind in my blog posting.

True, but I have been busy.

We will be vending at the Quilt Festival in Cincinnati Ohio in April.
Working a show of that size requires hours of planning and cutting and folding and printing and planning and packing and planning and wondering if you are planning correctly.

Then you have to pack what you have in bins and pile it all up and wonder if you have enough.... or too much. Don't forget the samples that have to be made and quilted and bound and packed. Then you have to have drapes and carpet and tables and chairs and table drapes and fixtures and a plan to make it all fit.

Click here for more information on the show:
http://www.quilts.com/newHome/shows/viewer.php?page=SpringFestival

While you are at it, you have to make samples of everything you are taking and I like to remake samples so that the fabrics in our kits match the samples we have on display. We publish our own patterns so I can "easily" change the photo on the front of the pattern. That only requires that I make a new sample, set up the lighting, take the photo, do the editing and insert it on the page before we print. Our wonderful Xerox printers have been behaving like spoiled kids recently. Turn your back on them and something rotten happens.

Naturally this NEVER happens when the Xerox Tech is standing here and I am trying to explain that the paper jams ALL THE TIME.

Then there have to be new patterns and samples made so that we have something "new" for the show. It doesn't matter that this is the first year for this show and almost everyone attending would never have seen our usual booth set-up, we still have to have something NEW. I added a few pillows to our button pillow line, including this Happy Birthday project.

In addition to prepping for the show, I was the featured speaker at the Quilt Guild in New Wilmington PA earlier this month. The meeting is in a great college town located about an hours drive from my store, but I have always found it better to leave extra early - like around noon - to get there in time for the evening meeting. If you happen to get there early, there is a great outlet mall located nearby and you can spend some time looking around until the meeting is ready to begin. I have twin grandchildren due later this spring and the Carters store and I became great friends. The best part about shopping for grandchildren is that you don't have to try their stuff on in front of a three way mirror!

We also have a new BlockWatchers Club that started this month. As part of the fun, I have decided to digitize the applique blocks for those club members that have embroidery machines. Fun, fascinating, but not foolproof. It takes a ton of test stitching to get everything the way you would like it. There is no better way to learn to digitize than to jump right in and give it a try. I have managed to digitize and test sew the first 8 of 24 blocks for this project. Not being one to sit around watching a machine sew, I powered up not one but two BERNINA 830's and had both embroidering at the same time. Those grandchildren I mentioned, are both getting embroidered quilts too.

Lauren, our oldest daughter and her husband are expecting the twins and they requested monkeys and giraffes for the babies room. I have finished two quilts, one green/brown/gold with monkey faces embroidered on it for baby boy and one in all shades of yellow with giraffes embroidered on it for baby girl. Both are backed with Oh So Soft from Moda and I have just a little bit of binding to hand stitch to be completely finished. Then I am going to start on the quilts that Grandma wants them to have!

Meanwhile I also completed samples for our newest pattern Five Easy Pieces. It is the perfect showplace for those large bright funky prints - but being in Grandma mode, I couldn't resist making a baby version too. Instructions for both are in the same pattern. We backed the baby version with cherry red Oh So Soft and added a layer of batting too. If feels absolutely luscious!

Did I mention that "we" are doing a complete redesign on the website? Actually I have hired a pro for this job, but it is my responsibility to tell her exactly what I want. Not an easy task, but it is going to be amazing when it goes live. I can't wait! It also requires a complete re-write of almost everything, changing the format I use for the newsletter. Yep, the spring newsletter that I just finished, printed and mailed has to be changed and re-done to fit the new format. Maybe we will start that process with the summer newsletter.....