July 2010 Newsletter

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Here's What I Did with the Pineapple Blocks

By the way, here's what became of my pineapple blocks. I made a small wall hanging/table topper and a table runner. Here they are on my dining room table. Aren't they perfect? Do you see how well they work with the fabric on my dining room chairs? I am very happy with them and with myself for stopping and making two smaller projects.

Feeling Inept

I have been struggling this week with getting a good photo of one of my new quilts. I'm trying to finish up the pattern jacket for Gift Wrapped, a rich pink and brown quilt I designed to feature Marcus Brothers' Olde Cedar Chest fabric collection. Here's one of the photos. The cute little dog is my daughter Diane's maltese, Jack. Isn't he a doll? We've been dogsitting a lot lately and I couldn't help wanting to put him in a shot.Here's another photo.
Now, to me, these don't even look like the same quilt. But the real problem occurs when I paste the photo into the pattern jacket using Adobe Photoshop. The jacket looks good on the screen, but when I print it, it has a distinct green cast to it. I've tried to adjust it in several ways, but the image still comes out with the green cast. Do any of you have any suggestions for how to fix this? I am really feeling inept and frustrated at this point.

Design Wall Monday

Here's what's on my design wall today. I NEED to be working on other projects I have in the works, but the other day in organizing --or attempting to organize--my sewing room, I came across this gold fabric that reminded me of a pineapple. Then last night I must have dreamed about it because I woke up with an idea in my head for a pineapple block. So here are four of the blocks, fused and rotated so that they create a larger block. Now my tendency is to keep going until I have a giganto bed sized quilt. I'm fighting that urge, and thinking that this might just look good as a little wall hanging or a table topper. Or if I really want to make more blocks, I could make a matching table runner or placemats . . . Or I could just abandon this and get to work on my project that I have a deadline for . . .

Spring Cleaning Sale

Well now that I'm back from market it dawns on me that I need to make room for the fabulous new things I have coming. I can't wait for you to see what's up my sleeve!

Meanwhile, it's time to clear some things out so I'm marking kits down--most of them are 20% off--and putting many sample quilts up for sale.

But rather than tinker with the website, I've popped them onto ebay. Here are some of the links:

Akimbo Quilt Kit: was $54 NOW $43.20



Mellow Yellow Quilt Kit: includes pattern, and fabric for the top, binding, & BACKING


was $51.90 NOW $41.52

Whew, I'm Tired Already and I'm Not Even There Yet!

Yes, I'm already worn out from getting ready for my guild's show this weekend. The guild, The Cotton Patch Quilters of Bakersfield, is a large, dedicated guild with enormous talent. Several of our members exhibit and have won awards in national shows--three member won awards at Houston last year! So, even though I'm just vending and have vended at shows large and small, I feel a bit of extra pressure getting every thing ready for my booth at the Bakersfield show.

And it just seems inevitable that things go wrong when there's that bit of extra pressure. Let's see, first my computer got a nasty worm that took me who is not very well versed in the techno world far too long to get rid of. (Advice to self: don't download videos "friends" post on Facebook!). Next, the company I usually rent my pole and drape from didn't have what I need--all their pole and drape was being dedicated to a local bridal show. Third when I went to work this morning and opened my classroom door, a horrid stench knocked me over. My students were practically in revolt and it was only after I'd opened all the windows and doors, sprayed air freshener, and called the office to complain that they'd come in the room. After a while, we oddly got used to the smell, but I was assaulted by it again and again every time the heater went on. Yes, I hear you saying, "Then turn off the heat!" Not that easy. Our heating and cooling is controlled by the central office. We can only adjust it a total of about five degrees.

So if you're in Bakersfield, CA this weekend or want to see a fantastic local quilt show, come on out to the Kern County Farigrounds. Doors open 9:00 AM Saturday, 10:00AM Sunday. Men are free, so your DH won't cost you a thing!

Something new, something blue!

Here's a first for me. First, it's my first publication of 2010. This cute little wall hanging is featured in Quilt Almanac 2010. It's made with fabrics from Exclusively Quilters Bryant Park collection, which is a lovely collection of funky florals, interesting geometrics, and great blenders. There are two colorways--the aqua shown here and a salmon which you can see on their website http://www.classiccottons.com
The second first, is that I've never had a quilt's photo shoot taken in a bathroom. I couldn't help but chuckle a bit when I saw the photographs for the magazine. Now I don't don't why, really, this tickled me. After all, I do have quilts hanging in my bathrooms. Lots of my quilting friend have quilts in their bathrooms too. It's just that it's not often that we see a bathroom shot in a quilting magazine. And the third, first is that I've never had anything published in Quilt Almanac! It's exciting to have one of my quilts grace the pages of this quilting magazine.
Needless to say, I'm looking forward to see what other firsts are in store for me this year. Maybe I'll wake up and be forty pounds lighter. Now that's worthy of a good long chuckle!