I am a guest blogger on The Quilting Gallery.

I am certainly honored to be blogging with the others in the group.

Visit the site to read all the great blogs.

There are some fabulous giveaways going on so be sure to read about those.

This is what I will be giving away.

I have exciting news.

I have a quilt on Page 20 of the Spring 2009 issue of

Better Homes and Gardens Quilts and More magazine.

It is a very simple but fun quilt.

Be sure to check it out.

I also have new fabrics that I am playing with.

They are from Moda Fabrics.

This is The Caroler by Mary Engelbreit.

 This is Snippets by American Jane.

I am using the Jelly Rolls, Layer Cakes, and Turnovers 

in a new series of Kindergarten quilts.

I will post pictures as I make the samples.

Today I received email from two separate quilters. I would like to share their pictures and stories with you.

They both sent pictures of quilts they had made using my patterns.

The first one is from Cecelia. She wrote

Debbie-

I just want to thank you for the Simple Stars, Beautiful Quilts booklet and the Broken Star pattern.

I'm putting the borders on my very first one -- a king size for a customer, and it has turned out great.

Also, thank you for the mystery....it looks like your Carpenters Star quilt but that would be such fun.

Here's a pictures before the borders and I will send a photo of the completed quilt once it's quilted. 

Hugs

Cecelia

Edna, TX

The second one was from Joanne

Ms. Maddy,

We emailed a couple weeks ago and I told you how much I appreciated your patterns.

Below is the Texas Star quilt, queen sized, I made from your book (Southern Stars).

Close up view

It is for my graphic designer/illustrator daughter who works in Manhattan and lives in Brooklyn.

Last June she and I bought some vintage fabrics at the Brooklyn General Store, with this project in mind.

Then I built out the palette locally mainly with Amy Butler prints.

With my husband out of town and a flexible work schedule, I cut & sewed this quilt in 3 ½ days.

Now it is with my wonderful machine quilter,

Paula Rostkowski, www.aquilterswork.com, and she will quilt the light green fields with feathered paisleys.

Paula is super, if you are ever asked for a reference for a machine quilter in northern Illinois/northern Chicagoland.

Thanks again for the great patterns

Joanne

Wouldn’t you love to go shopping for vintage fabrics in Brooklyn.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's day.

I received a beautiful card and we had a quiet dinner at home.

I am going to Florida in March to lecture for two guilds and teach at one shop.

The first lecture is on Tuesday March 3 at The Quilting Guild of The Villages.

Then on Wednesday March 4, I will teach my

Shooting Stars pattern 

at Sew Cherished Quilt Shop in Fruitland Park.

On Thursday March 5, I will give a lecture for the

Quilting Sisters Quilt Guild in Leesburg, Florida.

I am going to drive and a friend is going with me.

After my work is over we plan to go to St. Augustine, Florida and

Savannah, Georgia. We will then head for home.

My mission for you is to tell me about your

favorite quilt shops and great places to eat in these areas

or on the road there or back from Texas.

We will be going through Vicksburg, Jackson, and Hattiesburg, Mississippi to get to Florida. 

On our way home we will be going through more of Georgia and Alabama. 

Leave me a comment about any spots on the route or even off the beaten path. 

Also, dont forget the contest to win six fat quarter bundles which equals 9 yards of silk.

All you have to do is go to dellaQ.com and sign up for her newsletter.

She will draw for the lucky winner on March 1, 2009.

Infatuation 

I know you fondle it when you wander through your favorite quilt or fabric store. 

You run your hands over pillowcases in the department store.

What fabric can make you consider giving up chocolate or wine? 

For me, it’s silk.  How about you?  

Admit it, you want to wrap yourself in it!

Hello there!  I’m Della Quimby, owner of della Q. 

That’s my boyfriend’s dog, Lucky.  She is as sweet as she looks. 

I’m basically her butler; I open the door to let her in and out all day long.

Are you participating in Debbie’s latest contest? 

Be sure you join in to win a bundle of della Q’s taffeta silk.

All you have to do is go to my website della Q and sign up to receive my newsletter. 

Our fabric is made in Vietnam. 

We have been using our fabric in the manufacture of our

knitting needle cases and bags. 

Have you seen them? 

This is our most popular needle case, The Que™ for circular needles.

Many of my customers were starting to ask about just buying my silk. 

At first, I said, “I don’t sell just the silk”. 

Stupid!  I quickly realized that if I spend time in Vietnam

selecting fabric and designing our pieces,

why couldn’t I just have the fabric manufactured for quilters and sewers? 

TaDa! della Q Textiles!  Ok, it wasn’t that easy, but let’s pretend it was. 

Check out our silk collection, including kits with Debbie’s patterns.

I spend about three to four weeks a year in Vietnam

working with our production process. 

Have you been?  You should go. 

The food is great, the people are amazing and the textiles are luscious. 

The currency is the “Dong”; my boyfriend thinks that is really funny. 

I know, immature.  Check out all the vibrant colors.

Blah, blah, blah.  Enough about me, let’s talk silk. 

What’s the secret to working with it?  Fusible interfacing.  That’s it. 

Fuse it before you cut it with an ultra lightweight interfacing

so you don’t change the hand. 

I’ll share another secret with you about della Q silk. 

It’s washable. 

It does take on a bit of a vintage look, but frankly, I quite like it. 

The piece below was washed in a front loader with a mild detergent and then air-dried. 

It also tends to come out a bit brighter. 

More Contest Fun

We had so much fun with our contest on this blog that

I want to tell you about a couple of current contests.

 The first contest is being held by my friend and colleague

at della Q.

Della designs and imports silk taffeta.

She has beautiful finished products designed for the knitting

 industry and absolutely gorgeous silk taffeta yardage.

She sells to retail customers and also to wholesale customers.

If you are a shop owner be sure to check out the wholesale area.

Della will be giving away six fat quarter bundles that equal

NINE YARDS of silk fabric.

That is six bundles to one lucky person.  

All you have to do to enter the contest is go to her website

della Q and  sign up for her newsletter.

This contest will end February 28 @ midnight.

As many of you know, I am new to the blog phenomenon.

I would like for you to let me know what some of your

favorite blogs are and why.

I would love to visit them to see what is of interest to all of you.

Check back tomorrow because Della Quimby from della Q

is going to be my guest blogger for the day.    

Popovers

Who knew they could be so persnickety!!

I bought a popover pan at Christmas time and decided to make them for Christmas breakfast.

Well let me tell you it has been a real adventure.

Me against the popovers!

 I can't tell you how many times I have attempted this but sometimes I would win and sometimes I would lose.

I do believe I have the secret now and this is a picture of success!

They are a delight to eat, especially with cherry jam or strawberry.

We had them in Maine at Acadia National Park with strawberry and they were wonderful at the end of a trail walk.

Popovers

Preheat oven 450 F

Place the oven rack in the lower part of the oven. 

2 Tbs unsalted butter, melted

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup milk (room temperature - microwave for one minute)

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp. salt

Spray the cups of a 6-cup popover pan with nonstick spray.

Pour 1/2 tsp. of the melted butter into each cup.

In a bowl whisk together the eggs and milk., then whisk in the remaining butter.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour and salt, then whisk in the egg mixture.

Whisk until smooth, about 2 minutes.

Heat the pan for 3 minutes in the oven. Remove the pan from the oven and divide the batter among the prepared cups. Bake for 20 minutes.

Reduce the heat to 325 F and bake for 15 minutes more.

Do not open oven door while the popovers are baking!

Remove from the oven and invert onto a wire rack.

Serve immediately with butter and jam. 

We have a winner!!!

She did her project called Jill's Quilt under the name jkozole77.

Be sure to take a look at it on Fabric Matcher.

This contest was so much fun!

We had lots of projects and great comments from everyone.

I think all had fun doing the projects on the Fabric Matcher website. I hope you will all continue to play on that site.

Be sure to look for the featured fabric Soiree by Lila Tueller for Moda Fabrics.

It should be in your local quilt shops soon.

Thanks again to all who played.

We will announce the winner of the contest tomorrow.