I've gotten some wonderful pictures lately! These two are from Eddie Landreth.

He writes, "Remember back in late 2011 when I told you that I was going to be starting a Winter Garden quilt?     Well, I thought you might like to see some pics of the completed quilt.  I call my version of it "Blackbirds In My Winter Garden".  I wanted my quilt to be king size, so I added borders to the original design and those borders are from the same book using the borders of the "Autumn Thistle" quilt.  I decided to change that up a little and add the berries in the border, as well as adding the date on the bottom border.  I quilted it on my longarm, and finished binding it New Years Eve."  (This quilt is in the book, When the Cold Wind Blows, published by the Kansas City Star.)

Love the addition of the bird and vine border Eddie! Actually this was one of my favorite quilts to make. The shapes were large and easy to applique. Barb designed this one and I would call her after finishing each block and let her know how much fun I was having.


Lida Kunkeler from the Netherlands sent the picture shown above.

Katrina Devine sent the picture of her sampler shown above. 

She writes, "I wanted to share with you and Barb my Dear Friend finish!!!!!  I wanted to give it to my mom for Christmas so I changed "Dear Friend" to "Dear Mother", added her initials and since I am the oldest child, the year I was born.  I had to play a bit and move a motif around but I am so happy with how it came out. 

Look forward to getting my Violet's Blue chart.  I can't tell you how sentimental that chart is for me, my Grandmother, Audie Pearl, lived in a
little pink house and grew violets.  They were all over her home.  Can't wait to stitch it :-)!!!!!!"

     Goodbye to the old year and hello to the new one! Once again we've circled the sun. It takes 365.25 days to accomplish this feat and I'm exhausted just trying to imagine the whole thing! At least I didn't have to pack a bag and get to the airport an hour early. We travel around the Sun in an orbit about 584 million miles long at roughly 66,661 miles per hour. Whew! We made it again. Happy New Year!

     My past couple weeks have been taken up with cleaning, cooking, reading, and visiting with friends and family. My latest reads dealt with time. (The Age of Miracles by Karen  Thompson Walker and Spin by Robert Charles Wilson...both are excellent by the way.)


We had our annual gingerbread house party. It's fun seeing the creative ideas these kids come up with! The 2 above are getting ready to graduate from high school and go to college.

This sweet one has developed spaces where Santa needs to bring front and bottom teeth. (The roof on his house is a snowman's face.)


Cole's house is ready for an airplane landing. He now sports braces and has grown at least a foot taller. 


Laura likes hugs.


Jeff likes to balance gingerbread houses on unsuspecting heads.


Josh has great ideas that Laura likes to copy.

And we all enjoy a bit of sweetness in our lives.

     The ground is covered with a bit of snow and it's cold here in the Midwest. Barb has been dreaming of Spring with this new release. Her pink cottage is perched upon a hill and is surrounded by giant violets. The large blooms add a touch of whimsical folk art. Barb celebrates the year her parents were married in this piece. We've added a chart of letters and numbers so you can personalize your own piece. This pattern will ship out to the distributors the first part of next week.



     Did you make a resolution for the new year? Mine is cleaning out the studio and I need your help. I would like to donate some of my extra fabrics to a good cause. I'm willing to ship the fabric but only here in the states.....these boxes can get heavy.. I have enough for 2 or 3 causes. Please leave a comment if you have one I could help.

Until later!

Alma

I've learned something this holiday season as I'm running through the house frantically trying to get everything done. Waiting until the last minute and skating to the finish line isn't working for me anymore. My energy level just isn't what it used to be.


Part of the problem was thinking that wrapping  the heavy wire tree with yarn would be a breeze. The tree ate up about a week of my spare time to complete! "Wrapping 101" is a bit harder than I thought.


But I love it! I collected these celluloid ornaments on e-bay two weeks ago. The simple look of the menagerie of animals appeals to me. The donkey is pressed cardboard but I added him to the collection as I loved his sweet look.


The snowflakes are laser cut wood.




I have a bit more to go before I'm ready, but at least this tree is done!

Wishing you peace and happiness!

Alma

We have a winner! Carol you have won all of the fabric swatches shown in the last post.
e-mail me at alma@blackbird-designs.com with your address.

#229 Carol said...
So good to see you back on your blog. You have been missed.

The fabrics and the new quilts look wonderful. Happy to be included in the drawing. Hope I win!

Thought today would be good to do what I originally intended after fall quilt market.
Moda fabrics makes up these sweet fabric packs for the designers to distribute during quilt market. I asked some of the designers if I could have a sample of their fabric to give away on this blog site. They were all very willing to share. Below are the ones I was able to collect.

 Leave your name and a comment and you could win these cute candy packs of fabric.
There is only one winner. Contest will be over tomorrow around noon.



The above picture is of our booth at fall Quilt Market. Barb took this with her iphone and it's not really a good shot ....but it gives you an idea of the quilts that will be coming out in our next book. We were planning to release the book this December but our plans have changed. The Kansas City Star will be printing this one for us and we are looking at a March release. Barb's quilt is on the left wall and mine is on the right. Same pattern ...just two color ways, showing what a difference a color palette can make. Mine uses our fabric line from Cinnamon Spice and Barb's uses a tan floral print from Cinnamon Spice (shown below) and a mixture of other prints for the flowers and leaves. Her leaves are shades of dark green....I know they look black in the above picture but they aren't. I will try and get a close-up for you tomorrow.



 

Until later!

Alma

I'm sorry my lack of presence on this site. I wish I had a great excuse. I really meant to post right after quilt market in November....but the month just flew by!  To top it off....Christmas is almost here. There is quite a bit of prep work needed for this holiday. Luckily there are plenty of sweet memories of Thanksgiving to carry me through the hustle and bustle of the season. The good thing about Christmas is it always comes whether we're ready or not.


Here's a glimpse of our fourth and last Loose Feather pattern for the year 2012. It should be in your stores around Christmas time.

Look for a free pattern soon....there was one we made for the booklet but due to lack of space we couldn't include it. Barb and I decided to offer it on the blog as a free pattern.

Our web-site is getting a makeover. Hopefully there will be something to show there soon!

Until later,

Alma

 

   Our newest pattern, Feast of Friendship goes to the printer today. I love this piece designed by Barb. There is something about the bowl of fruit that just calls my name. I know everyone around the world doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving like we do in the states, but it's really a great holiday. It's all about everyone sitting around a table enjoying a good meal together. The laughter, stories and time spent with our kids make it really fun. Each of them has a special dish they prepare or task they do to help things go smoothly. Although I might make a couple of new dishes we haven't tried before, we pretty much stick to the same menu each year. Andy, my oldest always helps with the dishes, Jeff peels potatoes with his brother Greg. Laura makes her corn casserole. Greg also makes a wonderful sweet potato dish. Dave grills the turkey. Usually we have dear friends that show up to help celebrate too. They always bring something wonderful!

   This sampler symbolizes our feelings of Thanksgiving. The home represents family, the acorn border and pumpkin celebrates the harvest and the bowl of fruit symbolizes the bounty of the meal. 


Without delay here are our winners!

1.  Melanie said...
I grew up on Cinnamon toast and chocolate milk.... These fabrics are beautiful. There needs to be a Snickerdoodle quilt.. you know those cookies you made with your mom when you were little rolling cookie dough balls in cinnamon and sugar?!?!?
The colors in your new line of fabrics are beautiful. Who wouldn't love some Cinnamon Spice and a cookie magazine? Thanks for the opportunity.

back in KY i have cookie cutters that are being passed down to the 4th generation of bakers. They belonged to my Grandma, who made cookie with my Dad and Aunt, I got them when no one else wanted them - imagine that??? And now my girls have them. They are kept in an old orange little kid tool box - that was my Dad's as a child. I also have several of the receipts that my grandmother and mother used for their christmas cookies.

The fabric is wonderful too, but the "Christmas Cookies" brought back old memories.

Sandra
I like the cookiebook (and the fabric). In our country it's not so common to bake cookies for Christmas. So maybe I can have a new Christmas tradition.