What A Load Of…

This is the view from my back deck at home.

We have an acre and a half – bordered by woods with a creek that you see in the drop-off area in the back.

The creek is the dividing property line between us, and our neighbors behind us.

I LOVE that there are no fences.

It reminds me of when I was little, living in Minnetonka, Minnesota, and there were no fences in the neighborhood I grew up in.  I still remember the name of the street – The Strand, near Groveland Elementary where I attended kindergarten, 1st and part way through 2nd grades.

In my neighborhood of “no fences” the kids were able to run free from yard to yard to yard, kicking balls, playing on each other’s swing sets or digging in sandboxes, even so much as picking rhubarb straight from the garden, dipping the ends into the sugar bowl offered by my mom from the kitchen, and we’d munch away, dipping and chewing the sour goodness in a world without fences.

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From Key Largo to Home!

Here we are heading out on Sunday for a glass-bottomed boat tour outside of Key Largo.

And I have to admit that I was relaxed and enjoying this so much that I didn’t even remember to take photos.

Sometimes you just have to see life in real time, and get out from behind the camera lens.

I did end up taking photos of a couple of things that took my breath away, besides the sea and the sun and puffy white clouds.

Who can resist a gorgeous green iguana?

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En Provence Mystery Monday Link-Up, Part 1!

Happy Monday After, everyone!

As I’m packing up my bags in Key Largo and getting ready to head home, I have some fun to share with you from a group of quilters in Chandler Arizona.

This is the 4th annual Quiltville Mystery they’ve kicked off with a party, door prizes, and CAKE as they sew together on clue one.

This is the kind of party I would love to be invited to, wouldn’t you?

The power and driving force of this event is none other than our Quiltville’s Open Studio moderator, Angela Neff.

Would you look at this cake?  HOW FUN is this??  And I love how the icing pulls in our magenta just perfectly.

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The Road to Key West!

Water, water water in ALL directions! 

And something like 42 bridges connecting one key to another key to another until you finally (FINALLY!) end up in Key West, our destination location for yesterday’s plan of attack.

As we crossed each span of bridge on the Overseas Highway my mind was trying to absorb the sheer feat of BUILDING this highway…over the water…for miles and miles and miles.

The Overseas Highway is a 113-mile (181.9 km) highway carrying U.S. Route 1 (US 1) through the Florida Keys. Large parts of it were built on the former right-of-way of the Overseas Railroad, the Key West Extension of the Florida East Coast Railway. 

Completed in 1912, the Overseas Railroad was heavily damaged and partially destroyed in the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935. The Florida East Coast Railway was financially unable to rebuild the destroyed sections, so the roadbed and remaining bridges were sold to the state of Florida for $640,000.
 
Since the 1950s the Overseas Highway has been refurbished into a main coastal highway between the cities of Miami and Key West, offering travelers an exotic roadway through a tropical savanna environment and access to the largest area of coral reefs on the U.S. mainland. Many exotic animals such as the American Crocodile and Key Deer inhabit the tropical islands of the Florida Keys. [source]

This was my third trip to Key West, once by car in the 1990s after vending at a show in Orlando, and then by cruise ship several years ago.
 

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Sunshine & Sand Key Largo!

I’m just hanging out with the locals!

There is a lot to be said for taking a few days without a sewing machine in tow.

Eventually you have to look up from the project and pay attention to what is going on around you or you just might miss it.

I spent some time yesterday just enamored with these birds – are they ibis?  walking around the sandy areas as if they owned the place.

In a way, I guess they do!

Yesterday was day 2 of scuba instruction for the hubster, and that left me time to explore a bit, to kick back and relax a bit.

And to monitor how the release of Part 1 for our En Provence mystery was going.

So far, so good!  At least for my part I didn’t find any major faux pas, I think everything was explained in as much detail as possible when it comes to the construction of 221 4-patches, etc.

There have been several emails on “where can I find…..” and my answer is simple.  It’s all under the En Provence mystery tab at the top of the blog. Yesterday’s part 1 has been added to the line up, and Monday we’ll add a link to our Mystery Monday Link-Up to the line up as well.  It’s all going to be there.

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Gratitude Conquers Hurt.

I woke up this morning to over 500 comments on yesterday’s post.

More than FIVE HUNDRED of you took the time to share with me your feelings. 

You lifted me, you cried with me, you understood where my heart was hurting.

I am so grateful.

I think there comes a time where we just reach “empty” and run out of gas.  I have felt this approaching for a while now, but the comments that came on Tuesday were just the very last straw in a long line of things that have drained me.

A good friend and I had a long conversation while in Houston, and the one thing I learned from her was that “Some people are just BROKEN.”

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Turning a Page…

Yesterday, I posted about love.

I opened my heart about how it feels to be living in North Carolina where the KKK is marching.  And how Nazi salutes caused fitful sleep.  No matter “which side” you are on, these are real events and they disturb me.  It is NOT a political statement.

I simply expressed how I felt and that we need to reach out with love to those who are different than us.  Love conquers fear. And that quilting joins us together.

NOTHING I said was political.  If you don’t believe me you can read yesterday’s post.

But today I am hurt, and really have no words for the kinds of ugly comments….DIATRIBES paragraphs long - bashing me for political views that I NEVER EXPRESSED.

I never expected this from you, my readers.

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Pumpkins, Packages and….

I stole away to the studio about 9pm last night just to get in an hour of stitching.

I needed only 3 pumpkins to finish what was on the floor.

I was a quilter on a mission, and I needed to feel the hum of the machine and the heat of the iron as I sewed and pressed.

And wonder of wonders, I FOUND the missing rectangle that i had searched high and low for.

Of course it wasn’t where it was supposed to be, it had “flannel boarded” itself to the back of a totally unrelated piece of fabric that I had likely laid on top of it.  No bother, at least it was FOUND!

Seeing this 1953 Bernina just waiting for me made me smile.  This thing has POWER.  I have loved all 3 of the Berninas that  have come through my life at different times, and this makes number 4, and it makes me the happiest of all.  All metal, vintage forest green and chrome, flat bed and all.  Still wondering what this one will do in a treadle cabinet!

But there was no time for that last night.  3 pumpkins, remember?

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Quiltmaker 100 blocks vol 14 DRAWING TIME!

It’s drawing time!

It’s been a several great days of fun on Quiltmaker Magazine’s 100 Blocks, vol 15 Blog Tour.  I hope you have taken time to visit Quiltmaker’s blog, Quilty Pleasures every day during the tour to see who else’s blocks were on display and all of the goodies that go with them.

I spent some time in Idaho Falls stashing up on Aqua to Turquoise for MY full sized version of Straits of Mackinac –and I’m also thinking of what other colors it would look great in.

Layouts?  Oh, there are even more in my head than I showed you in the original giveaway post. 

Just wait and see!

Do you remember what is up for grabs?

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Showin' & Sharin' in Idaho!

I want to introduce you to two very special ladies.

These two (and some others as well) came to my lecture in Idaho Falls, a complete surprise.

If you could follow the timeline of my life back about 20 years, you would find me as a busy mom of a 12 y ear old and 6 year old boys, still a bit busy with a doll pattern company  called “Needle in a Haystack!!” Which had just been picked up by the Butterick Company after vending a Quilt Market a couple years previously.

I was a new Bernina owner after I ran my last Kenmore into the ground with all of the sewing I was doing and it was time to bite the bullet and “upgrade.”

It was about this time that I also bought my first longarm quilting machine, an APQS Ultimate I that I had bought sight unseen from an online quilter’s email list because I had test driven one at Quilt Market, and this one was less than a year old, and the woman was going through a nasty divorce and sold it to me for half price.

ALL OF THESE THINGS ---were a turning point in my life and I didn’t even know it.  Did you ever look back and try to pinpoint where certain things put you on a path you never dreamed possible?

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Pineapple Blossom in Idaho Falls!

I could not have picked a better group with which to spend my last teaching day of 2016.

Or a better class to teach as we wind up this incredible year and head off into the holiday season.

Pineapple Blossom is still a favorite after so many years and I will not be retiring it from my class offerings at any time soon.

Nor will I forget these smiles and the laughter that we shared as we sewed ourselves silly, loving every minute of being together as a group.

Idaho Falls holds a place in my heart, and it was quite fun to question the audience during my lecture on how many members in attendance were also members in the mid to late 1990s.

And if they were able to look back that far into their records, they would find the membership of a much younger version of myself on their records of having attended perhaps 3 guild meetings during the time I was a member because it was a 2 hour drive from Burley, Idaho to Idaho Falls, and it could only happen when the roads were good, and when there were enough of us from Burley wanting to car-pool over to see whatever program the guild was putting on that month as our Burley guild was very small.

Idaho Falls also boasted the $2.00 Fabric store and a couple of other places that made us eager to take that 4 hour round trip loop on occasion. Fond memories.

And best of all – the guild board had NO IDEA that I did have a history with this guild “way back when”  and it was fun to once again accept an honorary  guild membership, this time good for LIFE!

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Texas Tumble Weed, Snake River Valley Style!

I got my quilting fix yesterday!

WOW!  I had spent more than a week without the hum of machines and flying fabric scraps.  I think It was a complete record for me.

Yesterday dawned clear and COLD up in Idaho Falls, but we were warm within, and I was pleased to spend the day with the members or the Snake River Valley Quilters and friends for a Texas Tumbleweed workshop from my book MORE Adventures with Leaders & Enders!

SO MUCH FUN!!

I haven’t taught a workshop since the October cruise.  I think that is the longest “non-teaching” stretch I have had in a long while as well, and it felt SO GOOD to be back amongst those who understand my need of saving every last piece, of cutting and stitching and and pressing  and being with like-minded folk who understand my need without question.

We sewed and sewed and laughed and laughed and my heart was so happy to be here!

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Pat Sloan’s Teach Me to Machine Quilt Blog Tour!

There are days when I wish I could be learning to quilt NOW instead of 30+ years ago when little of machine quilting had even appeared on the scene.

I am a self taught quilter, learning through magazines and books and I never even took a quilting class until the early 2000’s --- and it was on APPLIQUE by hand, nothing to do with machine work at all.

Those first days of machine quilting were totally by trial and error.

Leave it to Pat Sloan to write a fabulous book for those who are just wanting to get started in the joy of machine quilting projects! 

I am happy that you have stopped here on my blog today as one of your stops along the way.  There will be many, and each site will be sharing with you what they most loved about the book, Teach me to Machine Quilt, published by Martingale and That Patchwork Place.

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Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks, vol 14 BLOG TOUR!

Hi everyone!

I’m super excited to have you join me today for my stop on the Quiltmaker Magazine’s 100 Blocks by 100 Designers, vol 14 BLOG TOUR!

With volume 14 at our fingertips, do you realize that is 1400 blocks in 14 volumes since this block party first started?

I have loved every single block that I have submitted to these wonderful issues.

Some have been made into my mystery quilts and it has been fun to find them in other colorways.

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November Quilty Box Winner!

It’s my last night in Utah and I nearly forgot that we are drawing for the winner of the November Quilty Box tonight!

It’s a GREAT give-away and I’m so grateful to the folks at Quilty Box for giving us this opportunity to gift one Quilty Box a month to one of my readers.

Could it be YOU!? 

It just could be!

This month we've not only got fabric, but a pattern to turn that fabric into a gorgeous quilt, or a fun floor pouf, notions, threads and other goodies.

They could all be yours -- if I happen to draw your entry as winner!

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Hiking Silver Lake!

Yesterday was the perfect day to head up to the mountains and get in a gorgeous walk around Silver Lake.

Up up up  we went through Little Cottonwood Canyon, up to the evergreens and toward the ski areas that the Great Salt Lake area is known for.

Near the Brighton resort is a beautiful lake, made easy for walking due to expansive boardwalk pathways along the shore and through the woods.

Emory went from wanting to be strolled to wanting to walk, and it did my heart so good to have her reach up and grab my hand in her little mittens!

The temps were to be “Soaring” up to 70 degrees, but things are colder in the mountains and a few weeks ago they did receive a bit of snow which was still lingering in the areas where “the sun don’t shine.”

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A Monday for Play!

I forget what it’s like to have little ones.

It seems like a life time since I had two little boys, 6 years apart.

But memories come flooding back of rushing to get one out the door to school, hopefully before the youngest wakes up needing a diaper change, breakfast, dressing and settling into my day.

Monday’s were always my favorite and still are.  They set the tone for the whole week ahead.

On the heels of a busy and bustling family weekend, Joy and I used the “down to one child” opportunity to put on our running shoes, put 2 1/2 year old Emory into the stroller (Boy do they make strollers nice now..cup holders and speakers for your iPod and everything!!  I was actually jealous!) and we put over 3 1/2 miles on our fitbits as we walked the neighborhood, kept the conversation going, and ended up at the park to let Emmie play a bit before heading back home.

It felt GREAT to be outside, and pretty soon sweatshirts weren’t needed at all.

This is fairly rare for Utah in mid-November,  But we’ll take it, this beautiful weather and gorgeous blue skies surrounded by mountains.  The cold will come soon enough.  It’s as if we’ve been handed a gift of good weather for travel and to enjoy the outdoors before winter arrives on the doorstep here.  Today it is supposed to reach 70 degrees.  By Thursday it could be snowing!

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When Things Quiet Down…

Sunday was quiet as more than half of the folks had to head out on their journeys home, some by air, some by automobile.

All of the goodbyes were met with “We need to do this more often!” “Wish we had more time to really spend together”  and we were covered in the hugs and kisses of the young ones who are such good examples to us --

How to play together.  How to share and laugh and accept and love no matter what our differences.

This photo was yesterday morning’s coloring in quiet ---the scene I tiptoed up the basement stairs into the kitchen to find.

These young ones, the little people growing so quickly….what will THEY turn our world into when it is their turn to run this country?  Will we have become better or worse in providing them a safe place to live and raise their own families?

And around lunch time, when things were settled and most were gone, we wound up back in the heart of the home, preparing yet another meal, helping hands at the ready:

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Oh, Family Chaos and Happiness!

This is what you get when 7 siblings, spouses, children, parents and one random great uncle join together to spend a Saturday together.

We came from all directions, Arizona, North Carolina, Idaho and other corners of Utah.

One thing is for certain.

This doesn’t happen OFTEN ENOUGH and we have soaked up every minute of it.

And the food.  Oh, the food!

I thought we were going to be keeping things “SIMPLE” but let me tell you what, there are some awesome cooks with fabulous ideas in my family and the spread started to appear long before noon with appetizers that could and should have been considered a meal in itself.

Cranberry salsa!  Peach salsa! Shrimp, cheese balls, fresh veggies including tomatoes that I walked right out to the garden to pick, all so delicious!

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It’s All About FAMILY!

It was an early early departure yesterday. 

4am Alarm.

5am – Load up the van and head to the airport.

5:30am check in at the airport, trunk show bags for my Idaho Falls segment and all.

6:30am boarding.

7am in the air and on the way to Atlanta.

And then a 2 hour layover before catching the connection that will get us to Salt Lake.

Hello, hexies!  I haven’t touched you since I returned home from Houston and as I stitch the rows are getting shorter as I fill in that last corner to go on the eternal hexie project.

Family.  I’m on my way to family!

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How About a November Quilty Box Gift-Away!

Good morning!  Rise and Shine!

The Hubster and I are in Atlanta waiting to board our flight for Salt Lake City and all of the family fun that awaits.

I am so excited to be spending the time with as many siblings and their families as possible and wishing everyone safe travels.

My brother Mark and his wife Sharolyn are soon to be boarding a flight from Phoenix.

My Brother David and his wife Anna will be driving down from Logan along with my brother Rick.

My sister Mary and her family are busily moving into their new home in Tooele, just in time for family to take up sleeping space in their new abode as well.  Good timing, guys!  We don't mind the boxes, just let us lend a hand!

Nieces and nephews and tons of noise are on the agenda and I just want to wrap myself up in it.  All of the kitchen prep, the dirty dishes, the countless beverage glasses, the laughter, the games, the just being together.

While I am on my way, I thought this the PERFECT time to introduce the November Quilty Box!

I am just tickled with the November Quilty Box, especially after meeting the powers behind the box at Quilt Market in Houston a couple weeks ago. [Has it been that long already?]

Did you know that Quilty Box is based in MONTANA?!

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Little Things That Help.

Many of you know of the passing of my cousin Andy shown here with his sister Bethany.

There could not have been two closer peas in a pod.  Just seeing Andy’s face in this photo has me a bit choked up while writing this post.

He’s been gone for nearly 2 months now.

Some times it feels like it can’t have happened at all, the whole motorcycle accident and how quickly our lives were changed.  Three seconds.  That’s all it would have taken to change the outcome.  Three seconds.

It’s been a very hard time for Bethany, losing her little brother who was not so little.

Every day, things get a bit better, and I am so proud of the young woman that Bethany is.  Not only is she beautiful (Spitting image of her mama, my Aunt Joy!) but she has the kindest heart of anyone I have ever known.  Her laughter can light up a room.

Bethany LOVES Animals.  And in working through her grief, she has found a mission trip called 109 Animals in Aruba that she really wants to go on, but is going to need some help to do it.

So I thought that today’s post would be a fun way of turning the topic of recent political upheavals to something POSITIVE and very helpful for a hurting young woman in need.

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Power to the Pumpkin!

When the going gets tough, the tough get sewing!

At least that was what was going on here in the studio in an effort to avoid what was going on with election coverage.

I did my part.  I voted with my heart and then I turned everything off and did what I needed to do through the day.

Watching the results doesn’t CHANGE the results at that point.  It just gets ME all twisted up in knots.

I believe in the American people.  I believe in the process.  I may not respect the people in office, but I will respect the office and hold on to my hope for a better future ahead.

At this point, it is out of my hands.  I voted.  And now we turn to each other as neighbors, friends, relatives, citizens and we try to heal the division and focus once again on WE the PEOPLE.

WE are no longer blue nor red.  WE are no longer elephants or donkeys.  We are AMERICANS.  We come from hearty hardworking stock.  We will survive.

And hopefully at some point we will more than survive, we will THRIVE because we won’t give up.

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Well Done, Sister Suffragette!

Hello, November 8, 2016.

The day we thought could never arrive soon enough.

Oh the angst, the verbal battles, the dividing of friends and especially family.

We have put so MUCH emphasis on this day, as if once this day draws to a close it will be “blessedly over.”

This is not a political post.  I don’t care WHO you vote for as long as you vote more with your heart and your conscience, and less by the persuasion of others to vote the way they are for whatever reason they are voting for whoever they are.

Hopefully you studied the issues and didn’t just get them through your Facebook propaganda driven news feed.

I don’t want to talk candidates. I don't want to talk parties. I don’t want to talk what will happen if THIS one gets in or THAT one gets in.  I want to talk about “arm chair citizens” and how it seems that if “so and so” is voted in, the homeless will be taken care of, the veterans will have their much needed benefits (And I agree, they are needed) and there will be a big political party band-aid placed over the whole map of the US of A that will solve everything.  While we do nothing.

As a woman, I am keenly aware that were I born in a different age and time, that I likely would never have had the right to vote, no matter which direction I wanted to vote.  I wouldn’t have been able to own my own property, and any other number of things that are granted to us as women today.

Voting your heart without persuasion from your spouse, children, neighbors, friends or church family is your right.  We’ve earned it.  Women before us fought for it, were incarcerated for it and in other countries died for it.

On a light-hearted note, I wanted to put this video clip in here, because it IS important, this right to vote, but I love this so much:

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Sunday and a For Sale Sign.

This is the side yard into the woods off of the front deck at the cabin.

The leaves are turning and falling and you can BARELY see the mountain range to the west as the sun begins to set.

This photo was taken Saturday night as steaks were sizzling on the grill.  The night we went to sleep, and fell back an hour.


So many mixed feelings are conflicting in my heart.

Are we doing the right thing?

Maybe if we didn’t sell, things would get better?

Is this really the place I want to stay or is it a stepping stone to something I will love even more?

Making change is so very very hard for me.  I get attached to places, people and things.

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En Provence & The 3-in-1 Color Tool.

This post is for those who asked “which colors” from the 3-in-1 color tool are the “right” ones we need for the mystery.

First of all, there IS no right one.

Remember, any time that you choose a color palette you have to leave room for variety and variations.

While paint chips and color cards can help you weed out shades that just won't work, for instance -- greens that are either too grey or too brown to go with the ones that are more yellow green, you will ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS want to include fabrics within your color family that push the boundaries in both directions.  Some darker, some deeper, some lighter.

And sometimes, even a bit of CLASH is good.  You may have chosen paint chips, but we are NOT painting a flat wall here.  We want a quilt with life and depth, a quilt that shares who you are, what you like.

I have often said that our personal stashes are as individual as our own signatures.  Let your quilt make a statement that is as uniquely you as your own handwriting is.

But paint chips and color tools are a GREAT place to start and very handy to have on hand for the initial choosing of color families that we are going to work with for our En Provence Mystery.

Magenta

Can you see the central shade on the chart with the white writing on it?  This is the true shade.  The shades on either side of the pure color are what happen when we lighten, darken, or start to push it toward the next color family in the color wheel.  See how they get more purple toward the bottom? Lighter toward the top?

The fabric from my stash was as close to the pure magenta as I could get.  But it wouldn't matter if I chose a fabric that was a little lighter, a bit more purple.  As long as I have contrast with the dark and light purples in the quilt, I'll be just fine.

Green

In your greens you are going to remember that green may end up next to yellow so you will want to stay with greens that are a bit darker.  I showed THIS side of the 3-in1 color tool because I am including a variety of these greens -- BUT ---in the right hand column, see the grey-green grouping at the top?  These didn't make me happy.  The center grouping is a bit too light, but the bottom grouping is right in the range I am shooting for.

If you look at the left hand column, about half way down in the center margin you will see the word PURE. Count PURE as number one, and count down 7 shades.  These are all in the realm of what I used in my greens.  

When I lay this card down on my fabrics I can easily tell if something is "too blue"  or "too grey".  It really helps me.

Dark Red-Violet

Our dark purple paint chip is somewhere in the realm of dark purple BETWEEN Red Violet and Blue Violet.  Doesn't this remind you of all of the color crayon names in that new box you opened up on the first day of school?  It does me!

Find the purple that says PURE in white.  And go one slot above, and one slot below.  And include some of these too:

Dark Blue Violet

When lavender grows in fields, you don't find just ONE shade of purple.  I've thrown dark red-violet and dark blue-violet in my quilt.  Find where it says PURE.  You can go 2 shades above and two shades below.  Just remember that these dark purples need to contrast with the light purples:

Light Purple

This is asctually the same card, just pulled the shade from the lighter side of the color family.  Now look at the color wheels on this  card!  Do you see the Analogous wheel?  Magenta and Purple are side by side!

Now look at the second complimentary wheel at the bottom.  Purple/yellow/green!  Nature knew what it was doing when it put this beauty together!

Perfection!

My light purples contrast with my dark purples much like this ad that popped up in the side bar of my Facebook yesterday!  LOL!

I guess our colors are all the rage!

Yellow

Find where it says PURE on the 3-in-1 color tool.  We don't want to go TOO light with the yellows or they may not contrast enough with the neutrals in the quilt.  Check the top right color wheel on the card.  What is yellow complimentary to?  PURPLE!  You can go a shade to either side of the pure yellow, but this yellow still needs to contrast against your green as well as your neutrals.  Prints are okay on the yellows.  Other colors on the yellow as long as you can see the yellow background are also okay.

I have found that having this handy tool in my hot little hands has helped me greatly with choosing and weeding out scraps when working on a quilt with a planned color theme.  It has helped me choose complimentary, analogous and split complimentary colors that really bring life to a quilt when I couldn't quite decide what would be best.  I've even used it when trying to decide which color of binding would be best on a quilt to set off what is going on within the quilt.

And as I'm typing up this colorful blog post, this photo just came in from Pam Heyna:

Doesn't everyone need a little multicolored cauliflower in their lives?  Especially if it is in the colors of En Provence??  Green, purple, neutral and yellow.  The only thing missing is MAGENTA!  Thanks, Pam. 

 This was fun to wake up to this morning!

My yesterday.

Yesterday was a busy day in Quiltville. My thanks to the Hubster for helping me get invoice box number 10 out the door, so happy to say we are now all the way up to October 27th when I left for Quilt Market. 

We arrived at the cabin last evening right at dinner time, throwing steaks on the grill for dinner and just taking a breather.

We are up here to meet with a realtor today and get our beloved place on the market. Something better awaits. Today we start to look at property.  There are a couple things of interest that we want to see.

I'm not having an easy time with this.  How is it that other people outside of my family can have such an influence over my freedom and happiness.  I am sure that SOMEONE will love the cabin as much as I have, and they will enjoy the "resort" type community that is slowly engulfing this mountain through the HOA board.  But it just isn't me.  It's not how I want to live.

We are looking for a place with acreage and long range views.  If the cabin we find doesn't have a large enough studio space, we'll have room to build me the dream studio I've always wanted.  It may take some time, but one thing is for certain.

The right thing can't come along until you let the wrong thing go.

Quiltville Quote of the Day!

Letting go has always been difficult for me, but I'm doing it.  Sometimes it is harder to move on than to stay put and just deal, but you have to KNOW when it is time to make the choice and do it.

I look forward to sharing this new adventure with you.

And I found it appropriate that this quote is on an antique log cabin quilt found at Quilt Market.  

So many lessons have been learned at Quilt Villa.  On to Quilt Villa II!

Click Here to like our Quiltville Friends Page on Facebook for more fun!
Click Here to join our sister group, Quiltville's Open Studio on Facebook, a place to Sew, Share & Grow!!

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A Bit of Clean & The Crown!

Last evening, feeling too brain tired to do anything remotely involving sharp instruments including scissors, rotary cutters and fast moving needles as in sewing machines, I turned my attention to a studio re-freshening. 

No time for a MAJOR de-clutter, but just starting in one corner and working slowly at discarding, putting away and dusting off while watching something intriguing.

I started by clearing the surface of my desk.  I worked on from there.

The Crown on Netflix was mentioned by several readers on Facebook,  and being as i love period dramas, and anything British and BBC-ish, I gave it a go.

And I was captivated within the first 5 minutes of watching the Queen Elizabeth II walk down the aisle to become the wife of Lt. Philip Mountbatten of the Royal Navy, formerly the Prince of Greece and Denmark and newly the Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth and Baron Greenwich of Greenwich.

And it’s the 1950s, and the fashions are AMAZING.

I puttered and put away through 2 episodes, at times stopping and doing nothing but watching because it is THAT GOOD.

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A Bit of Pumpkin Play!

In the evenings, when I’ve gone as far as I think I can go on the work front, there is nothing that can energize and re-excite like spending a couple of hours in the studio.

I really intended to come down here and make some sense of the chaos that has befallen me.

I’ve been on the go go go and there are piles upon piles – where one thing shifts on top of another because you need that other flat space to cut or to layout.

You know the drill.

And I thought – if I just LOAD this pumpkin table runner into the machine.  How long can it really take to quilt it?  It’s only 24 X 47.  HOW LONG can that take?

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In the Land of “PROCESSING!”

This was my day in a nutshell mail tub yesterday!

I was able to clear out invoice box #7 and get about half-way through invoice box #8 until I couldn’t see straight, needed to eat something, and just needed a break.

So I proceeded down to the studio where the big printer is and began to print those invoices that came in since I left for Houston.  Nearly 800 of them.  HOLY MOLY!!  I know the mystery excitement is increasing!  And that makes me SO happy.

Now we’ve got a run on Tri-Recs rulers and Checker is almost out and I’m facing the same thing I was when we ran out of Essential Triangle Tools!  There are more on their way, but these orders will be filled in the order that they also came in.

So this post is for those who are newly ordering.

If you also purchased the Essential Triangle Tool or the Addicted to Scraps Book  along with your goodies for this year’s mystery you will already have received the Pre-Order info via PDF that came automatically with your purchase.  If you haven’t read it, please do.

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A Bed Turning from the Barn!

Some of the best memories from Quilt Market happen OUTSIDE of Quilt Market!

As authors, instructors and designers – we are QUILTERS first.  And we often don’t get enough time during the year to be in the same place at the same time.  But when things like Quilt Market happen, we gather from all 4 corners of the globe and though our days are busy with obligations to do a book signing here, give a schoolhouse there, film a video tutorial at this time, or do a demo at this booth at this time, the EVENINGS are ours, and we grab them and run with it.

Lori from Humble Quilts and I have been friends for nigh on 20 years now.  She flew into Houston to work Festival, and our itineraries BARELY overlapped.  We had one evening to share starting at 8pm because of a meeting she had, and I was flying OUT the next day.

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What it’s All About.

From Houston to Home.

And time on flights to reflect and lock tight in my memory the things that meant the most during this whirlwind trip to Houston Quilt Market, 2016.

It’s easy to get caught up in the hubbub of the industry.  The notions, the tools, the fabrics, the threads, the publications, the NEW NEW NEW, BETTER BETTER BETTER and that ever present push to work harder, do better, climb higher.

Until you realize that it all means NOTHING without the friendship of like-minded women and men, who just like you, get up in the morning, throw themselves into the shower before facing another day (maybe a cuppa and breakfast first) get dressed and go at it again.

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