The car is almost packed. I'm hitting the road again. First I'm driving to Spring, TX for a class at 3 Stitches. Should be lots of fun! Pam, the shop owner, really knows how to have a great time. Barb isn't able to come to this class as she couldn't get away from work. (Darn it anyway!) But she stitched the project so she will be in Spring, TX. in spirit. The pincushion above is our class project. Love the long bird legs!

My van is full of everything needed for our booth at quilt market. So, after a quick visit in Spring, I'm driving on to Houston. Barb will be driving down on Friday. She's bringing the quilt books. (We really need those or we won't have anything to sell.)

Couple of quick answers to questions:

1. A couple of people have asked about the above quilt. It will be in our new book Garden Club.



2. The above needle roll will be in the book too.

3. Although Barb and I are taking a break from teaching next year, we are not taking a break from doing books and patterns. We will continue printing quilt and cross stitch books and patterns and maybe even add a rug hooking booklet.

I'm taking my camera to quilt market. Hope to have some good pictures for you when I return.
Will be back in about a week.

Until later dear friends!

Alma

Barb and I are just about ready to go to quilt market in Houston, Texas. Our book went to the printer today and we should have copies by next Monday. I am thrilled to say the least. I'm always glad to make a deadline. This baby is 84 pages! (Being an old labor and deliver nurse I feel like I can call this project a baby....lots of labor and at the end of the process you are thrilled with what you take home...or in this case, what we will take to market.)

I had my first baby the "natural" way. By the time I was almost done with the labor part and ready to have the baby, they could have thrown me off of the top of the building and I wouldn't have cared one bit. I would have screamed, "thank you!!!!!" all the way to the ground. (Luckily, this project wasn't that painful.)

When Barb and I go to market, we stand in our booth and look like we are smart, organized and very creative. But it's a lie.....we have the help of many wonderful people to get us anywhere. WE could never make our deadlines without them. Edie McGinnis, our editor is one of the people that makes us look and sound good. I know I've written a small paragraph about her help in our books....but really, it seems inadequate when I think about what she does for us. Her creative writing skills add much to our text. It was her idea to replace my subtitle "Quilts and Projects Inspired by Our Love of the Garden with her catchy phrase "A Bouquet of Quilts and Projects". Much better, right?

Jane Miller does our technical edits. I'm so grateful for her. No one wants me to do a technical edit and no one is calling Barb and asking her to do one either. Plenty of people are calling Jane though.

Jeanne Zyck our quilter....we really don't know why she answers the phone when we call. (She has caller ID too!) She gets the quilt from us in the evening and has it ready the next day for us. And it looks fabulous! She quilted 5 quilts for us in 5 days so we could make our deadline.

Eric Sears does our drawings....he was up until all hours last night getting the final drawings done. And he never complains. (You are probably wondering where we find these folks!)

Alissa Christianson charts all of our cross stitch patterns. She never fails to get them to us quickly. We wouldn't have any cross stitch patterns without her. Barb and I don't have a clue how to chart a pattern on the computer.

Barb's Mom is in her 80's. She works all hours of the day and night trying to get the applique and sewing done for Barb. Barb couldn't get it all done without her mom's help.

And many thanks to our printer. You have no idea how I abuse those folks. I've been working with Kelly Shanks and Terry Ward from Boelte Hall for about 11 years. Terry even offered to drive the books to Houston if they couldn't get them done in time.

And last but certainly not least....we thank all of you for your readership, suggestions, support and for sharing your projects with us. We are inspired by your work and grateful for all of you!

More about our fabric line in the next couple of days!

Until later,

Alma

My car pulled into the garage last night around 9:30pm. The leaves were just turning while Barb and I were in Spring Green, WI. What a wonderful trip we had!!! We really enjoyed Jeanne Horton of Country Sampler, her shop gals, Maggie, Stacie and all of the wonderful women who came to the retreat. Just wish we could have been there longer!!!!

I've been taking some pictures for our new book Garden Club. I went out into my yard to see what has gone to seed and what's still blooming. I found my last two roses....I can hardly believe that summer is over and winter is fast approaching. (The small orange fruit are rose hips. My husband and I picked them earlier this summer from roses at our local movie theater. We get them when the movie is over and it's dark outside. I pretend I'm helping them by removing the hips so the shrubs will bloom again. I hope the security guards don't get us for picking them....I would hate to see Dave spend time in jail. I need him working in the garage! hahaha...you know I'm kidding right?)

Thought you might like to see the latest Anniversary of the Heart pattern. This one will be at the printer tomorrow...so will be in the shops in 2-3 weeks.

Barb did this one for her grand niece J.J. I love the puppy and the moth. Perfect for a sweet little girl!

When I got home there was a couple of boxes waiting for me from Moda. Our newest fabric line has arrived ready for us to begin making some samples for market. I can hardly wait to begin working with this line! Will show you some pictures soon.

Wanted to let you know that we are going to release a book in Feb. with all of the cross stitch patterns from our class projects....so not to worry about missing out.

Thinking of you all and hoping you are saving a bit of time to relax, stitch and enjoy the weather.

Until later,

Alma

My car is loaded up and I'm almost ready to leave for Country Sampler in Spring Green, WI. Barb and I are teaching a quilt and cross stitch class. We will be gone for 4 days.

I wanted to write a quick note and say don't give up on this blog! I know there hasn't been much excitement here on-line but I will have more time to post after quilt market. (Oct. 30)

Barb and I had a great time in Park City, UT. We were there for the Shepherd's Bush retreat. The small sewing tray pictured above was our class project. Just the right place to keep your scissors and other small sewing items. The frame is from Sharon Crescent's line. (Crescent Colours) The silk floss is from Thread Gatherer.

The small quilt above is one of our Country Sampler projects. It's perfect for a winter table or hung on the wall. We also give a sewing guide for a much larger quilt.


The small sampler above is the cross stitch project for the retreat.

Hope you are enjoying this lovely weather. Great time to get out and walk and collect acorns and autumn leaves!

Until later,

Alma

We are getting ready to print 2 new patterns. Waiting for the Harvest just spooky enough for the season! Barb gave me the projects late last night. We did a "open the car door and exchange things" in Panera's parking lot. (We really meet in a lot of great places. Barb says it looks like we are doing drug deals....but we would never do that....just cross stitch and quilting deals.) She just finished the last stitches....and I had just left a mystery book club meeting so a late night meeting was perfect. (Will have to write more about my new ventures in attending a book club later....)


The second pattern is Flowers of the Field. Both the small sewing bag and pincushion are in this pattern. I love the soft faded colors of this one. I'm still working on the covers...so there might be some small changes in the patterns...but they will be ready to go to the printer early Monday morning. Look for them in your local shops in about 2-3 weeks!


Hope you all have a great weekend!

Until later,

Alma

Barb and I discussed some ideas for our next class over lunch on Saturday. She thought we could show a sewing exercise book we purchased several years ago. The book was a class project for girls at the Kildard Place School in Ireland. These schools were established throughout the country to educate the poor. The idea was that every individual should have an opportunity to read, write and do arithmetic. Just because you were poor didn't mean you had to be illiterate too. The young girls also had classes to develop their sewing skills.

We know this sewing exercise book was considered important to the young woman as it was not left behind when she immigrated to Australia. I don't imagine she was able to take many things with her on the ship....but she made room for this item. It then traveled from Australia to Kansas where it is at home for now.


The sampler has suffered a bit through the years and I thought I should sew it to another piece of linen to prepare it for another trip.

Then I noticed the pin. I thought, "What the heck!" How had I not seen this before?

The pin that held the sampler in place on the book page is rusted to the linen!



This reminded me of a quilter that came into the shop where I worked years ago. She held up her quilt block and showed me a couple of her pins that had rusted to her quilt fabric. (She hadn't worked on her project for quite a while!) She asked me what she should do.....now I'm in the same mess. What to do?

I think I'm just going to leave it for now.

Back to the sewing machine!

Until later,

Alma

Barb and I spent Saturday morning together. We walked through the John Knox Village antique show quickly....well kind of quickly. We had lunch to talk about some designs and ideas....and then we both had to rush home. We are in our "crazy" mode. Trying to get everything done to meet our deadlines.

I won't be able to post much here for a month....I'm just "hanging in there" until November. Then the only thing on my mind will be what to serve with turkey.


Jeanne Horton from Country Sampler sent a kit for me to use for our class there. Saturday and Sunday were spent in cutting paper and fabric then my "bonding" time with the glue stick . Wish I had time to do this by hand. Hand applique is so peaceful! But this will have to be done using the invisible machine applique method.

Now for the sewing!




I haven't had time to respond to questions in the comments section and I appreciate you helping out with the answers! (This means you Nancy in WI!!!)

I will do a demo painting and waxing a sewing box....look for it on the blog in November. For those of you who are wanting to jump in and try it on your own....here goes the short version. We use acrylic paint. Pick your favorite color. Paint the box and allow it to dry. Sand to distress and then wax with light or dark brown Briwax. If you "google" Briwax you can find their website and it gives locations to purchase this product. I find it at antique shops and my local Truevalue hardware store.

Until later dear friends!

Alma