Blogger's Quilt Festival - A New Share!!

I just love Blogger's Quilt Festival.  I love surfing through all of the amazing quilts and meeting all new Quilting buddies!!  Welcome to any new friends stopping by for the first time!!

I am so excited to have a new share for this festival!!!  This is my Rah, Rah, Rally Quilt and it is part of the Sweet Celebrations with Moda book.  And since it came home in my suitcase from Texas, I can now share it here!  Yippee Skippee!!

I have to say, this is one of my all time favorite patterns I have designed. Awhile back I saw some kitchen tile at the hardware store and I couldn't get the design out of my head.  I loved the amazing movement and simple geometry of it.  So I played around and played around, adjusting the design and then figuring a fairly easy way to turn it into a block.  But the great thing about it is it doesn't look like a block pattern.  (Another reason I love it!!)

The applique was a little tricky, what with all those detailed skinny lines, but I am so over the moon with it!! It was totally worth the extra effort to make sure it was cut out and stitched just perfect!! The quilting was done by my good friend Natalia!!  She did a fabulous job!!

And now that this quilt is home my husband has quickly taken ownership of it.  This is the first quilt I have made just for him and he is very happy to have it back.  (And I have to admit, I am very happy to see him so happy to have it :)   For now, it has taken residence on our bed for easy football viewing.  I wonder if I can get him to take it off the bed before basketball season starts :)

So all in all, a fun throw quilt for my husband.   Now I just need to get cutting again because I plan to make myself a matching one.  My husband and my Alma Mater share the same colors so they will match perfectly except for the school applique logo.  How cute will we be!!  (I am pretty sure my husband will think we are a lot more cheesy and a lot less cute :) 

Thanks for stopping on by today and letting me share my new quilt.  Now pop on over to the Blogger's Quilt Festival and check out all of the amazing quilts!!!  There's days worth of Eye Candy there!!

My First Market!!!

Can I just start with saying that I loved Quilt Market!!!  It is crazy busy, crazy fast, crazy nonstop, and a total blast!!!!  So . . here's the rundown of Market from my little corner of the world:)

I started packing about an hour before I had to leave.  Yup, major procrastination!!  I put the quilt that I was showing at Schoolhouse in my suitcase and my makeup and suddenly there wasn't much room left for anything else :)  But luckily, I only needed a few changes of clothes for the weekend so I was able to zip it up without to much difficulty.  (The way home was a little different :)  

We had some crazy major stress at the airport but managed to still arrive in Houston Thursday night.    Friday morning dawned and we picked out our classes for Schoolhouse.  For those that haven't been, Schoolhouse is crazy fun and crazy tiring!!  You pick 16 sessions to attend during the day that run about 30 minutes and you just go from one to the next to the next.

My highlights of schoolhouse including meeting Angela Walters as she promoted her new book, which I happened to win a copy of.  Squeal!!!!

I also got to hold Angela's quilts during her presentation!!  Getting to see her quilting up close was awesome!!  That gal is super talented!!

The very last schoolhouse was the Moda Sweet Celebrations one.  I was so super nervous I was shaking like a leaf.  Luckily, you can't tell so much in the picture. Here's me giving my little 2 minute speech on my project.  

And here is me relieved to be done!!  And this is probably the first shot I have shown of my other project in the Sweet Celebrations book :)  

And here are some of the amazing group of ladies that are part of the Sweet Celebrations book!!  It was so fun to get to meet them in person!!  From left  to right is Angela Yosten, April Rosenthal, Sherri McConnell, Aneela Hoey, me, Jane Davidson, and Natalia Bonner.  Yup, an amazing group of ladies!!!

That night was sample spree.  And to tell the truth, it wasn't as bad as I was anticipating.  We did go in toward the rear to avoid the pushing and shoving, but all in all, not to bad.  And I got some fun little fabric treats, which is always makes things happy!!

Saturday morning came bright and ealry and we were so eager to hit the show floor.  It was enormous!!!  Talk about inspiration at every turn!!!  Now I am sure you have already seen tons of booth pictues so I will just share some of my faves.  (At least the favorites that I remember to take a picture of the whole booth.  I realized when I got home that I have lots of quilt photos and not near as many booth ones, oops :)  

I loved this booth by Bari J for Art Gallery Fabrics.  Isn't that bedspread just divine!!  And by this point my feet hurt and I really just wanted to climb under it and take a nap!

I also loved this stunning booth by Lisa Tueller for Riley Blake.  What a great idea to design a booth around a dress, which I will add is stunning as well.   I just loved those giant flowers!!

And this last shot is a little blurry but I added it anyways because I just love the rainbow of paint sticks hanging from the Moda booth!!  The entire paint theme throughout the booth really was fun and creative!!

And although I loved wandering from booth to booth seeing all of the amazing quilting goodness, my favorite part of Saturday was the people!!!   I got to meet (in person) so many wonderful, friendly, people!!  Some I felt like I had already known forever through emails and we just introduced ourselves with a hug, others I met for the first time and quickly became fast friends.  This industry is just filled with the nicest people!!  

Emily Herrick  from Crazy Old Ladies.  And this Lady is anything but crazy, she is a sweetheart!!!

Allison from Cluck Cluck Sew.  I got to meet her husband as well, they are just the sweetest couple!!

 Kate Spain.  My Mother-in-Law (huge thanks goes out to my MIL for coming along with me, it was so fun to have her along!!) is a big time fan of Kate so we were both super excited to get to meet her!

And I was super excited to meet Joel Dewberry!!  I think he is such an amazing example of balancing family with the industry.   And he liked my bag :)

I got to meet so many other friends that I am now kicking myself for not taking pictures of.  (But this post is getting a little long, probably time to wrap it up :)  Oh, But I do want to mention that I got to meet Kimberly Jolley from Fat Quarter Shop, Leah from Burgundy Buttons, and Julie from The Intrepid Thread.  I can't begin to say how wonderful it was to get to finally meet these amazing ladies in person.  They are such a huge support of Happy Quilting and to get to just sit and chat with them in person vs over email was a great treat!!!  And of course, I was so excited to sit and chat with them I forgot to take pictures ;)  

And one last thing which was a huge highlight for me and that was the Sweet Celebrations book signing!!  We did one on Saturday and one on Sunday and I tell you what, it was so much fun!!  First, everyone is so excited to get a copy of the book and you just can't help but get excited along with them.  Second, these group of ladies are so fun to hang out with!!  Once again, It's the people!!!  Quilters are the best!!!

Stefanie Roman and Mary Brown are the new ladies in this picture from the Schoolhouse one :)

And with that, I will sign off ending this little chapter on Quilt Market.   Here's is hoping I can post another one next spring ;)  

I'm Back from Market!!

I just wanted to pop in to say I am back!!  Market was incredible!!!!  I had such a great time :)  I promise to give a full post soon but right now I've got to do some catch-up   :)  So for today, I will leave you with a picture of all the extra goodies I got to make room for in my suitcase!!  Yippee skippee for quilty goodness!!! 

 

TNT - The Final Chapter

Well, can you believe we have been linking up with TNT for a year???  That's right, this is the 52nd TNT link up.  And it will be the last.  (at least for now.)  I have so enjoyed seeing all of your amazing projects.  I love hearing that you are branching out and Trying New Things.  And for that matter, I love that it has forced me to branch out and Try New Things.  But, I have to admit, I am getting overwhelmed.  It is hard to Try Something New every week.  (And some of my lame weeks really show that :) And I am finding it harder and harder to find time to respond to all of your links. And so I think it is time to let go.  That doesn't mean I will stop Trying New Things, and I sure hope you continue to Try New Things as well!!!!  I will just post about them randomly going forward and I encourage you to do the same :)

I want to say a huge Thank You to all of you who linked up with me from week to week.  I can't being to describe how wonderful it was to see you stretching outside your comfort zone!!  I so appreciate you being a part of TNT Thursday!!!

 

So, how about one final chapter!!!

What am I Trying New???  Well, I am on my way to Market!!!!  I am so very excited to meet so many amazing blogging friends.  I am so very excited to meet my wonderful sponsors in person!!!  I am so very excited to be surrounded by quilty goodness for 2 whole days!!!  And I am so very excited, (and so nervous that I have had butterflies for the last 2 days) to participate in the Sweet Celebrations Book Signing and Schoolhouse.  See, I tend to ramble and be a little silly when I get nervous, so by the end of this week all of my friends might think I am a wee bit crazy, but hey, they probably won't be to far off :)

So how about??  One last time . . . What have you Tried New this week???  Link on up!!

Wonky Irish Chain - A New Pattern

Introducing Wonky Irish Chain, my newest pattern which is now available in my Pattern Shop :)    I just love Irish Chain's and so I thought it would be fun to give this traditional quilt a bit of a modern twist.

This quilt is so much fun to piece!!  It goes together fast, is suitable for beginners and up, and has endless layout options.

And it comes with size options!!!!  Wonky Irish Chain has options for a Baby, Lap, Queen, and King size quilt.

This cover quilt is the Lap size and the fabrics are Mama Said Sew by Sweetwater for Moda.   I love all of the quilting goodness in these prints!!  Which is why I choose it because this quilt is actually for me. I have already snuggled up with it in front of the fireplace :)

A little detail.  Whereas this quilt is all about quilting, I decided to do a basic stippling stitch in the background.  It felt appropriate.  Then I stitched in the ditch  around all of the "pieces" so that they really pop. (By the way, I used my free motion foot to stitch in the ditch, no way was I up to turning my quilt a million times :)

So what do you think???  I hope you love it as much as I do.   And, if you do happen to love it, and want to make one for yourself, (and maybe you will keep yours too) you are in luck!!!  Leah, at Burgundy Buttons, has made up a Wonky Irish Chain Quilt Kit featuring the same Mama Said Sew prints that I used!!!!  The kit is for the Lap size.  The kit also includes the pattern for free and the fabric itself is at a major discount.  What a deal!!!  So pop on over and grab a kit for yourself so you can get going on your Wonky Irish Chain quilt.

Don't you just love my little kido's fingers in that picture.  They were so sweet to help me :)

Thank you so much for stopping by.  I know I have said it before, but I can't say it enough!!  I have the greatest readers and every day I am humbled to have such wonderful people interested in what I create.  Thank you!!!  I'm Linking up with Kati at From the Blue Chair :)