Celebration Tree Skirt -- My favorite quilt I have ever made

And it isn't even a quilt, according to my mother. She uses the following elements to indicate that it is not a quilt.

1. It does not fit on a bed.
2. It is round, which is not a quilty shape.
3. A quilt goes on top of a bed, this goes under a tree.
4. It can't qualify as a wallhanging, as you can't hang it because of its round shape.

As a result, she has indicated that it should really come it live with her, since it isn't a quilt. She is perfectly happy to give it a home, despite its "lack" of quiltiness.

Unfortunately, I think she will be disappointed, as I never want to let it go.....I dropped it off at a shop a couple of weeks ago, and I literally had separation anxiety. I LOVE IT that much. Seriously, my favorite non-quilt ever.

and here are some closeups of it, the quilting is absolutely fabulous (thanks to my very favorite longarmer, Shawn York of Rusty Crow). Shawn did a fantastic micro-stipple in the background, and changed threads and designs for each component....little christmas trees in the geese, snowflakes in the outer border spikes, and a huge poinsettia in the very middle. Absolutely STUNNING as usual! Seriously folks, a great long armer gives your quilt a whole new life.

So, I'll be teaching this one around town this fall, so if you are interested drop me a line at catherine@queeniequilts.com or check the schedule on the website.

See you soon,
Cat

Unexpected Absence

So, I have been away for a while, unintentionally away....nothing wrong, just crazy busy trying to get caught up and then trying to get started on the new patterns for market, finally making some progress and getting things under control, and finally starting to feel like it is all coming together. I have come to understand the word persistence, or perseverance. Head down and eyes on the road, and just keep going, and trust that it will all work out.

Thankfully, while it has been lots of work, it has been fun as well, so I can't really complain! So, here are the successes of the past few weeks.

Seasonal Tablerunner - Christmas of Course

  and the quick one.....

Dancing with the Stars Tablerunner

 I also got a couple of tops pieced and off to the quilter, hopefully I will get them back in the next few weeks and I'll post them.

Happy Sewing All -- I promise I'll stop in more often!

Golden Harvest

So, a few of you know that I got the opportunity to spend a few days with Judy Niemeyer in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago. I went about a week after market (you know, just when you should be starting to catch up from the market mayhem)....so, I was there for 6 days at the lovely Quiltique. It was a lovely shop, and has a fantastic selection of fabrics and patterns (seriously, not sure I had ever seen as many Judy patterns in one place, with the exception of Judy's retrest center in Montana). In addition, the organizer, Carolina, was lovely. Seriously, she was fantastic! Unfortunately, I totally forgot that she didn't work on Saturday, so the one day I brought my camera was her day off.

While I was there, I spent most of my time working on Golden Harvest ( I did manage to get it finished). I did the option 2 colorway, and this one might be my favorite to date, with the exception of the Celebration Tree Skirt. So, here it is in all its glory. I'll be teaching this one at Amidon in August and September. It finishes at 50 x 50, so its a large wallhanging or a small lap.

Judy brought in a lot of quilts for the workshops, so I got the opportunity to photograph a few of my favorites.....

Raindrops....

Sand Devils

While I was there, I also got a chance to work on some of the arcs for my Bali Wedding Star, and some miscellaneous project finish ups (new signs for the booth, pole covers, etc).

So, check in to the shop if you live in the Vegas area, and watch out for more progress.

Market Summary - Post 1 - The highlights

Well, we are back from Market in Salt Lake City, and other than being really tired, we are doing well. Just about ready to get back to normal life...

So everyone wants to know all about market -- what were the "in" colors? What did we have to have/buy/check out? Who has the best new patterns? What was the "it" thing? And all I can really say is that it was pretty overwhelming.....There were literally hundreds of vendors, from notions to entire fabric lines, with everything in between. We didn't get out that much, and when I did get out of the booth it was usually stopping at the ladies room, or going to a meeting, or getting a snack, so I wasn't particularly handy with the camera....so bear with me, I'll try to get the highlights summed up for you.

The hit color by far was grey. Michael Miller had it paired with Orchid, Yellow, Turquoise, and at least 4 or 5 versions of pink. Moda has it in several lines, from Bunny Hill's "Puttin' on the Ritz" to "Ruby" from Camille and Bonnie, and new snuggles in grey that were delightful and oh-so-soft.

As for the "it" thing -- there is usually a gadget that is totally new and unexpected, but this year it wan't so much a gadget -- it was a fabric. A ruffle fabric to be exact. Made by the ruffle fabric girls, who were two booths from us in 643. There booth was never empty the whole show, I'm talking constant people in the booth, at all hours. During classes, over the lunch break slowdown, and at opening and closing every day, it was people deep. Seriously, madness in that booth, and for good reason. They had this gorgeous sheerish crepe-like ruffled fabric that was made with spandex and lycra, with 1" or 2" ruffles, in about 15 colors. The ruffles were soft and drapey, and attached to a base, so you could basically make anything with it. I could see so many different things made with it -- shirts, skirts, little girl dresses, pillows, curtains, etc. It was so very, very cute that we simply couldn't resist buying some to have fun with back at the ranch. Hopefully, I will post some of that fun in the days to come.

Speaking of crazy booths -- I had a new experience at sample spree. Last time I was at market, sample spree was already sold out, so I didn't get to experience the madness. Sample spree is essentially a chance for shop owners to check out the new products, and pick up samples before the item is available for wholesale. It happens the night before market opens from 8-10 pm. It was designed to be a chance to get some pre-cuts, or patterns that you could take home and work on the sample immediately (whereas generally you don't buy things at Market, you order them for future delivery). Needless to same, sample spree was hilarious. Moda had 8 booths, and they were selling Ruby, Ruby Flannel, Putting on the Ritz, some Kansas Troubles, the new Sandy Klopp Line (the name of which escapes me right now) and probably a dozen others that I never got to see. I think they might have had some of the new butterscotch line by Joanna Figueora -- but by the time I got there at 7:15 there was basically nothing left...a few flannels, but that was it. At 8:00 sharp they opened the doors to sample spree, and it was like a mad dash to the Hoffman and Moda booths. Seriously, these people had routes, and agendas, and they were taking names of anyone in their way. At 5 minutes after 8, it was 6-8 people deep at the Moda booths (which had at least 8 people to ring you up). Seriously folks it was madness, and had all of us laughing. And for the rest of the night we got to see the folks with the Orange and White "Utah" bags from Moda -- so -- here's a pic, notice that all you see is a sea of  people surrounding the booth.And that orange and white bag, I don't want to know how much fabric was in them, all I can say is they looked heavy.

Yeah, that was all you could see of the Moda booth, zilch, nada, nothing but a sea of people! Just glad we didn't have a brawl, that would have been ugly.


More on our booth at Market to follow.

Happy Quilting!
Cat

Quilt Market Day 1

So, we're here in Salt Lake City -- just got back to the hotel after the first day's festivities at Quilt Market.  I had never been here before, and the city is quite pretty and very picturesque, huge majestic mountains in the distance with a thriving downtown setting. We're staying about three blocks from the Salt Palace Convention Center, which is a perfect early morning walk. Really beautiful scenery, and great weather today made for a perfect morning!

The show is quite overwhelming really. I have been to market before (a couple of years ago), but never as a vendor. In addition, I know a lot more people now than I did then. And today I got the opportunity to meet several of them. Camille Roskelley of Thimbleblossoms (and her mom Bonnie Olaveson from Cotton Way), Allison from Cluck.Cluck.Sew, and the effervescent Jim West, who was delightful (and hilarious). Overall, a great day and really nice to catch up with people that I "know" in cyber space -- ok, the people that I stalk in cyber-space is more accurate, but you know what I mean. I'll be showcasing a couple of these in the next few weeks as new projects and fabric lines come into the store.

I'll post some pictures tomorrow as soon as I get them downloaded from the camera, but for now, it is off to bed, in preparation for a busy Saturday at Market.

Toodles,

May?? Really??? What happened to April?

So, I totally lost most of the month of April.....between shows and a crazy pre-market schedule, I somehow lost almost a month....26 days to be exact.

So, you saw that word, didn't you??? Market -- as in the quilter's/sewer's trade show, the mecca where all of the quilt shops go to decide what they are going to carry next year. Time to see the new fabric lines, the new patterns, and the new designers. How exciting is that? And even better...I am going as a vendor, not just a participant/buyer, but as a vendor. Totally psyched, totally freaked out, totally scared. So, there's about 10 days left before market starts, and then I have to be a big girl.

So, just what have I been up to? 3 shows, designing and testing 6 patterns in 3 sizes each (that's 18 quilts in case you are counting), sewing, quilting, binding, labeling, photographing, writing, re-photographing, wholesale sales order creations, planning, organizing, arranging and finally proofing final patterns, before they head off to the print house.

So, wish me luck and hold on tight, there are only 10 days left until the real work begins.....The bonus is, I promise to work more "normal" hours, where photography, lunch with friends and blog chats are a bit more regular.

Have fun everyone! See you in 11 days!

Asilomar = Awesome

Okay, so I have been a bad blogger, a bad daughter, a bad everything lately with a crazy schedule.....all in the name of great opportunity to go to Asilomar. For those of you who don't know what Asilomar is -- it is actually a place, as well as a thing. Asilomar the place is just north of Pebble Beach -- and I mean just north, you can walk down to the beach and walk 25 feet south and reach the golf course.... absolutely gorgeous.

 and here is the walkway to the beach....just 1/4 mile from my room


And Asilomar the thing -- well this was the 26th year that it was held on the conference grounds. Basically, they turn Asilomar the place into a huge quilt retreat and bring in some fantastic national level teachers such as Susan Carlson, Pearl Periera and Libby Lehman. We had a special guest while I was there -- Alex Anderson (yes, the former HGTV host ALEX ANDERSON) was a student in Susan Carlson's class, and was around campus.

We also had these special guests, right outside my room...yes they are real live dear -- there were three of them, but I couldn't get a picture that had all of them together....

But the real reason that I was there was to see Judy Niemeyer, and work on my Amazon star.....here it is (well the center at least). I got this section completed in class (Bags 1 and 2). I am now working on the rest of it. So far, I've gotten bag 4, 5, and 6 completed. Which leaves me with Bag 3 (another set of diamonds), and Bags 7-9 (Borders)....so, check back next week and see how they are coming...I'll try to keep everything updated as I go.

Have a great day everyone.....