My husband David and I traveled to New Mexico during the holidays.

We spent time in Santa Fe where the architecture is accentuated by the luminarias on the buildings.

Santa arrived on the Plaza in an antique fire engine.

 Some of the windows had very beautiful contents.

This is a crazy quilt on a chair.

A skull covered in turquoise. It would not fit my living room decor but I still think it is beautiful.

Pottery is displayed in another window.

This is a bronze sculpture outside one of the galleries. Don't they look comfortable?

I love the inspiration you can get from different areas of our country.

Crossing over a state line sometimes is like entering a new country.

Don't forget I will have the rules for the contest  on the blog on Friday.

Monday January 5, 2009

Happy New Year!!!

Can you believe it is January 2009? The years are flying by just like the months.

The last time I posted it was November.

A lot has happened since then, Thanksgiving, a bout with the flu, Christmas and New Years Eve.

I went shopping with friends to North Park Mall in Dallas.

They had some amazing decorations and flowers.

This is Santa flying through the air with his reindeer.

 It is hard to see but they are all covered in nuts and seeds.

It was truly a wonderland. These flowers were also beautiful.

I am going to have a couple of contests this month with great prizes.

I have two gift certificates for memberships to The Quilt Show online with Alex and Ricky

and a great fat quarter bundle of Moda fabrics.

Be sure to check back daily to find out the rules.

We did see a few celebrities at Fall Quilt Market.

Becky and Jeanne took this picture of Marie Osmond at her fabric booth.

Mark Lipinski came by my booth and stopped to visit.

Market Report

I am home from Fall Quilt Market in Houston and finally rested and ready to go to the next project. My good friend and helper Becky went with me to market to help and I also had help from Paula Ward and Jeanne Kuchelmeister. I showed four new patterns.

Shooting Stars

 which has three sizes (twin, queen and king). Everyone liked it because it has six different stars that make up the center of the quilt.

 Radiant Stars

which has two sizes (wall or baby and throw). It is really fast and easy to make with any style fabric.

I made the cover quilt with Moda Tradition and the wall quilt with Moda  Love is in the Air by Deb Strain.

Post & Beam

which is lap quilt for the contemporary quilter to use the new bold graphic prints like Wonderland by MoMo for Moda.

It is a wonderful fabric with all sorts of designs.

The last pattern is

Abstract Harmony

I designed it to use the beautiful silks by dellaQ.  Della and I have teamed up to encourage quilters and sewers to use silks in their projects. I made two quilts and four table runners for Della to show in her booth. She is making kits that will be available at your local quilt shops. If the shops don’t have what you are looking for you can check out Della’s website to order from her. I will also be stocking the kits for students taking my new workshop The Road to Success With Silk. The workshop will cover many aspects of working with silk like how to prevent raveling, to wash or not to wash, what kind of needles to use, etc. 

This is my booth before we decorated

and this is a picture of the finished booth.

That is Paula in the picture.

I did three School House sessions while there. School House is mini classes on the day before the exhibits open. We show new patterns, new fabrics, new techniques and have fun at the same time. I did two sessions for Dell to show samples made with her silks.

We also gave out information on how to use and handle the silk. We had good attendance at both. I did one session to show my new patterns and had standing room only. All were a great success. We also did some great networking with publishers of books and magazines. There will be numerous new and exciting things happening this year at Calico Carriage Quilt Designs.

Tomorrow I will show you some of the celebrities we saw while in Houston.

It is getting close to Fall Quilt Market in Houston and things are really crazy around here. I have very little free time but want to show you some great fabrics I am working with and tell you about a recipe exchange.

These are fabrics from the Soiree' collection by Lila Tueller for Moda Fabrics

These are fabrics from the Wonderland collection by MoMo for Moda Fabrics

I will show you the finished quilts soon. They are so cute!!

I am participating in a great Halloween recipe swap at TheArmChairChef.com. Tink Board is running it and doing a great job. Check there everyday for a new recipe. The apple pie sounds devine!

I really have to get back to work. Today I am working on two lap quilts and several table runners out of silk.

I recently went to Brenham, Texas to give a lecture and teach a Shining Star class for the Friendship Quilt Guild. In case you don't know, Brenham is the home of BlueBell ice cream. A great time was had by all including me.

 I had great students who worked very hard.

And they served a fabulous pot luck lunch.

This is a quilt made by Mabel Dimick.

 She used the Broken Star pattern from my Simple Stars Beautiful Quilts book.

My hosts were Karen & Mike.

They have a beautiful home in the country with a great lake on the land.

This is the Putter Shed Mike built for Karen. Don't you love it?

They treated me to a wonderful dinner at Volare in Brenham. One of the things I love most about traveling to teach is meeting the wonderful people.

The ladies in Brenham sewed, visited and had a lot of fun.

Just a couple of stars ready to put together.  

 One student brought her Carpenter's Star quilt top to show.

I have to get to work now. I am working on quilts and patterns for Fall Quilt Market.

Tomorrow I will show you some of my progress.

I have not posted in a month and the following pictures show the reason. They are the photos midway through our current kitchen, bathroom and studio renovations. As you can see we are removing wallpaper and re texturing walls, painting woodwork, new counters, sink and cook top. I will post pictures of the finished projects soon. I hope!!

Batik Stars, Abilene trip & a Wind Farm on the way

It is a glorious Saturday morning here in north Texas. It is only 73º so far. Can you tell I am ready for fall? Yesterday was a very full day for us. In the morning I worked on some batik stars for a new twin size quilt. The batiks are Dreaming in Color by Laundry Basket Quilts for Moda fabric. I really like the cheery blues and yellows.

In the afternoon we went to Abilene, Texas for some business but then we had to have some fun. We drove to the small town of Buffalo Gap, Texas

 where the famous Perini Ranch Steakhouse is.

The grounds are peaceful.

The decor inside is very eclectic. This is 7 foot rattlesnake ski tanned on a board.

Have you ever seen a jackalope?

This bison head was watching us eat.

Our appetizer was Jalapeño Poppers. Jalapeño peppers stuffed with cream cheese wrapped in smoky bacon and grilled. Second course was a blue cheese salad with roasted pecans. We split a 16oz rib eye steak with ranch potatoes and still brought some home to enjoy today. We did save room for desert by bringing home some of our steak. Strawberries with sugar biscuits and real heavy cream poured over it all. This was not a heart healthy meals but it was wonderful! They also raise a few pump jacks on the property.

There were some very interesting buildings in Buffalo Gap

I took pictures of the wind farms on the way home.

These windmills are huge!!! It is kind of freaky when you first see them.  

This shows the wind farm with the sun setting behind.    

First Market pattern quilts finished!

All but one of my pattern cover quilts is finished. I just got them back from my quilter Jo Lynn O'Neil and would like to share them with you.

They are all made with future groups of fabric from Moda Fabrics.

Please check with your local quilt shops to see if they will have these fabrics and carry my patterns.

The first pattern is called Post & Beam. It is made with 8 fat quarters. It is great for the big bold prints but is also good for flannels.

The flannels used here are Timber Creek Flannels by Holly Taylor.

This one is made with Tranquility fabric designed by Sandy Gervais.

This one is also made with Tranquility fabric but it is scrappy and uses the panel that is part of the line.

This pattern is called Radiant Star made with my No Diamonds/No "Y" Seams technique. The front cover quilt is a large lap quilt made with

Tradition Fabric by Howard Marcus. The proceeds from this fabric will go to UNICEF.

The quilt on the back cover is a wall, baby, table topper made with Love Is In The Air by Deb Strain.

The last pattern is called Shooting Stars. There are twin, queen and king size quilts included. The cover quilt is a queen made with Heritage by Howard Marcus.

The back cover is a king made with Peace On Earth which is now in quilt shops.

Quilt shop owners please email me if you need more information on these patterns or the fabrics used. The patterns will be available soon.

When I was in Benton, Arkansas teaching at the Saline County Quilt Guild my lunch was provided by Gwen Rogers' husband. This is his recipe.

 Tom's Tasty Tuna

1   5 oz. can albacore tuna in water, drained

1/2 apple, chopped (sometimes we use the whole apple)

1/2 cup chopped pecans (more or less)

1/2 cup dried cranberries (more or less)

3/4 cup mayonnaise (more or less to suit your taste)

(We always use albacore tuna because it doesn't have such a strong flavor.)

Mix all ingredients and serve on lettuce or in sandwiches.

Also while I was in Benton one of the students shared the quilt she had made using the free pattern from my website.

http://www.calicocarriage.com

It uses the No Diamonds / No "Y" Seams technique. It is also fat quarter friendly. It is a great project for a holiday like today. I hope you all have a great Labor Day.