The Grandma Zone

Caution:

You are about to enter the Grandma Zone. That wonderful place that is inhabited by those of us that have just been blessed with the most adorable grandchildren in the world, and we can't stop talking about them or showing you photos of them. There is a desperate need to let the entire world know how wonderful they are.


The twins arrived on May 28th. Grant Emory and Madeline Rae are perfect, except that they live 5 hours away. I was there for their arrival and their first 5 days. I would still be there, but they have another set of Grandparents that we have to share them with and they are entitled to some cuddle time too. I'm headed back for a second visit as soon as they leave and I'm actually looking forward to the 5 hour trip. It will give me plenty of time to think, design, plan and decide on the next twenty or so quilts that I want to make them so that they always feel like they are wrapped up in Grandma love!


Who knew that two tiny little people could rock your entire world!

Home From Quilt Market

Home.

It has taken a little over a day to crawl back into the land of the living, but I think I have adjusted back into my timezone, gotten a good nights sleep, unpacked the mountain of paperwork and goodies that I managed to bring back, sorted through everything that piled up while I was away and can say I am officially home from Market. Whew!

Salt Lake was beautiful! The sun was out and the weather was perfect. This was the view from my hotel. Waking up at 4am each day (not by choice, but by habit, it was 6am at home) gave me plenty of time to get outside. I even took my running shoes and managed to go running a few mornings. I don't run far, but it was a great way to see the downtown sites. I also don't take my camera when I run, so for photos of the beautiful spring flowers at Temple Square, click on over to Karen Snyder's blog, http://annalenaland.com/

I bought batiks, batiks and did I mention batiks? Then I decided I had to branch out a little and I added some great new patterns, big bold contemporary fabrics, some retro and a ton of blenders and basics. Our favorite designers didn't let us down and we will have a stream, make that a river, of fabrics arriving from now through the end of the year. I bought for the areas that we needed to fill immediately - like red white and blue. Thanks to Bonnie and the great job she is doing with our Quilts of Valor group, our usual assortment is running pretty low and we can't have that!

One of my favorite parts of Market is the displays. The amount of work that goes into pulling together a single booth is mind boggling. Don't you just love this tree from the Riley Blake display? The quilts and kids clothes in the background were well made and looked great. I have to admit that I was particularly drawn to the baby and kid items. My daughter is due with twins any day now and I am definitely in Grandma Mode.

I did see a few things that I can guarantee or at least feel pretty confident that I won't be making for those new additions to our family. Then again, I learned a long time ago to never say never.

Jililly featured their newest patterns in an Ice Cream Store display, complete with a handsome guy handing out free small cones! You can see their well deserved and well earned booth ribbon displayed up front.

I was fascinated by these..... um, green things! I thought of them as something from under the sea and imagined that they would look great with a fish print behind them until one of my friends pointed out that she thought they were cactus! I guess that explains the snake coiled around the one in the lower left. Don't know what they are, they are totally non functional, but I want some anyway!

I better get to work, I have a thousand things to do and I still have visions of purses and totes and fabrics and table runners dancing in my head!

Your Tax Dollars At Work

I received the following in my email today from the U.S. Census Bureau:

"Each decade, after it tabulates the decennial census, the Census Bureau calculates the center of population. The center is determined as the place where an imaginary, flat, weightless and rigid map of the United States would balance perfectly if all residents were of identical weight."

What the heck for?

Considering that the U.S. is NOT flat, is NOT weightless and does NOT balance on anything, not to mention that one thing we are definitely NOT in this country is IDENTICAL WEIGHT, why do they bother with this calculation? And after a bunch of math brains get together and figure it out why do they think I have nothing better to do than expect us to join them for their big announcement?

"Join the US Census Bureau for a live UStream event discussing the new Centers of Population at 11am EDT on Wednesday May 11. They will be taking questions from the public during the event on Facebook and Twitter."

Really?

This is a tweet worthy event? What question could the public possibly have except "Why do you bother doing this"? Who uses this information? Isn't it obsolete as soon as the first person moves, even if it is just across town? One baby is born and oops there goes the perfectly balanced-everybody weighs the same-on the perfectly flat imaginary map of the United States calculation. Considering that according to their very own statistics 11,000 babies are born every day but not necessarily evenly spaced throughout the US, I would venture to say that their statistic is skewed.

I have plans to be somewhere over the midwest, flying to Quilt Market in Salt Lake City on Wednesday. There are a few thousand of us that will decend on the city for the multi day event. We tend to bring lots of fabric, quilts, books, patterns and notions with us. Those things tend to be heavy. I hope we don't tip the map!

Quilt Market Countdown

It's that time of year again.

Quilt Market season. Twice each year everyone in the quilting industry heads for the largest convention in the industry. This month we will make the trip to Salt Lake City, Utah to search for beautiful fabrics, innovative patterns, the very best new notions on the market. Right now, those of us that design for the marketplace are scrambling like crazy to finish and perfect our newest offerings.

Would you like a sneak preview at mine?

This is my newest pattern. I'm calling it "Old Dog, New Tricks". I think the name is perfect, because after 18+ years in the industry, I think I probably qualify as an "Old Dog". The project is made using the Quick Trim Ruler that I designed for Creative Grids and that ruler is capable of teaching even the most experienced quilter a few new tricks!

My original idea for the ruler was to eliminate having to draw all of those pesky lines when you clip corners on blocks like flying geese.

It certainly does that, but it also does a whole lot more!

For "Old Dog, New Tricks" you also use it to draw circles!

Keep in mind that this is a sneak preview. The pattern isn't ready yet, it is still in the proof reading stage, I have nine more days until Market - why hurry?

If you aren't familiar with the Quick Trim Ruler, you can check out the Creative Grids video on YouTube by clicking here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxzlBFVq0d0

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?

Has anyone seen my XML.dll file?

The error message clearly says "Set up XML.dll is missing from computer" and I want it back.

Where could it possibly have gone and who would have taken it? The good Lord knows that I NEVER delete anything from my computer, I rarely trash the emails I receive let alone something as scary sounding as a XML.dll file. All I wanted to do was upgrade my Corel program. It should have been as simple as inserting the pretty little disk into the correct drive and listening to it whir as beautiful things happened, but it wasn't.

This whole thing started two days ago and I have once again been sucked into computer hell. I've installed, uninstalled, booted, rebooted, trashed, fixed, dialed help lines, allowed people to remotely walk their fingers through my electronic files and I am now, 2 full days later, exactly where I started - only worse off. Things have been trashed that I now have to re-install just to get back to the sorry state I was in two days ago pre-upgrade attempt.

Then the following invitation popped into my email:

"We are pleased to announce that Bill Gates, Co-Chair and Trustee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Chairman of Microsoft Corporation will be a keynote speaker at the annual WIRED Business Conference, occouring in New York on May 3, 2011.

yadda, yadda, yadda,

Price $1895 - for lunch or possibly dinner, the invitation doesn't really say.

It is almost worth it. If I knew for sure that there would be a question and answer period I could fly to NY, attend the event and ask Mr. Microsoft himself why the heck these things always happen to ME and demand he restore my watchamacallit file! I would probably be taken out in handcuffs.

The invitation says that Martha Stewart will also be there. Maybe I can just get Martha to slap him upside the head?

All kidding aside, if I had the time to make a trip to New York, it would have been to see this:

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/24/finally-mrs-rose-and-the-public-can-see-all-her-rugs/?smid=tw-cityroom&seid=auto&utm_source=delivra&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=americanquilter%203/29/2011%204:28:10%20PM

A definate WOW in the quilting world.

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.....