Time to CELEBRATE!!!

Today I celebrated with a confetti collection of crocheted spool pin doilies for my vintage machines, thanks to  Leone Bust of Menominee, Michigan!

BUST is about what I did when I opened up the squishy envelope, and they started raining down all over my desktop! 

Thank you Leona!  I was BUSTING out laughing as the sweet things kept raining and falling out all over….

I will seriously have the BEST DRESSED vintage machines in the county.  THANK YOU for the sweet card too, I appreciate your kindness!

I am also BUSTING out with happiness over the beautiful book cover that arrived in my inbox from my editor this morning….

It’s PERFECT!

Are you ready for a sneak-preview?

Presenting:  MORE Adventures with Leaders & Enders!

Some quilts you may recognize on the cover ---some will be new to you, just wait until you see them full out!

The BACK cover – fun!

I'll be showing you soon ALL the quilts that are inside, as soon as the book arrives on my doorstep.

I hope that Lucy D from Kokomo, IN and Robin M from Washington and Chris B from San Diego and Colleen Y from LEWISVILLE, NC and Beth G from Louisiana are reading this….your testimonials were hand picked by my editor from all of those sent in to grace the back cover due to your exuberance and excitement over how sewing with Leaders & Enders has changed the way you quilt.  For all that commented – THANK YOU for the things you shared.

We have GONE TO PRINT!

It will take a few weeks to get the job done.  After printing, books are shrink wrapped and bundles in sets of 10 and placed in cases of 30 books per case.  After this is done, they go to the warehouse where things are inventoried.  As soon as I have word that all is going as planned, I will open up the website for pre-orders.  I should know within a couple of weeks if we are on track.  I don’t want to take pre-orders too early, or face what happened last time – they were printed early while I was out of town for several weeks and antsy people were not happy that I was not home to ship something they had paid for ---even though I still made the date that we had originally stated.

I am guessing I will have them HERE at home around April 1st.  My April traveling schedule is busy, but manageable and we will get books out as quickly as possible---Stay tuned for more info! I'll let you know as soon as I know!

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Las Colchas Quilt Shop!

Welcome to the cutest little Quilt Shop in Texas!

Las Colchas is in a wonderfully rambling Sears & Roebuck kit house built in the 1920s.

Did you know you could order a house from Sears back in the day?  Shipped via railroad boxcars, these kits included all the materials needed to build a house. Many were assembled by the new homeowner and friends, relatives, and neighbors!

Wandering through the many rooms and sections of Las Colchas, I wondered about the families who had lived here when this house was built.  It’s wonderful to see it standing today, almost 100 years later, with happy quilters coming in with smiles, and leaving with happy packages and dreams for future projects.

The owner and staff, working on projects in the dining room!

Bolts of color and inspiration frame tall windows and taller ceilings.

Samples are plentiful and call out “MAKE ME!”

There is something to beckon at every turn!

Threads and flosses in cotton, silk and wool ---

Beautiful displays and sew much to discover!

Dia de los Muertos fabric!  It’s San Antonio, after all!

Remember those “if it fits it ships” priority boxes are your friend!

There are collections in every room, so be sure to give yourself ample time to browse!

There is something for every quilter at Las Colchas!

I loved this jar of old wooden spools, but there was no getting it home!

If you are in the San Antonio area, make a plan to visit Las Colchas!

Visit their website HERE for more info.

I had a great time wandering the shop and chatting to the fun staff and I know you will too!

And a funny:

I took this photo while Irene and I were at a stoplight --- RENT A WIFE!!  Both of us agreed we’d like to each rent a wife – to do all the cooking and cleaning and laundry and grocery shopping and errand running so that we could spend more time piecing at the sewing machine ---what a hoot!

Today is for gathering my wits, unpacking suitcases, getting mail order out and getting caught up.

Tomorrow night I’m setting aside for a possible Quilt-Cam as I hope to get in some machine time by then – I’ve got a baby quilt to make for my sister who is due with a GIRL in June!  YAY! We get to sew pink –so that’s on the agenda.  I will let you know as time gets closer if that is actually going to work or not.

Friday we are planning an escape to Quilt Villa.  It’s been nearly a month since I’ve been up at the cabin, and I’m longing for it.  It’s been a really busy bustling 2.5 weeks on the road and I need some decompress and recoup time.

Yes, It’s GOOD to be HOME!

Click Here to like our Quiltville Friends Page on Facebook for more fun! You do not need a Facebook account to read the Facebook posts - They are viewable to all! Feel free to read & quilt along with us!

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iPhone-o-Gram! Hexing Along!

This is just a quick post on my layover in Washington DC before catching my flight to Greensboro –

I got a first grade upgrade between San Antonio and Washington!  I've spent the last several hours hexing away while watching videos on my Kindle fire – life is good!

One more flight to go and this traveling girl is home.

I'm looking forward to dinner, a long soak in the hot tub, and sleeping in my own bed – in that order!

I've got more photos to share from my time in San Antonio, but as my flight is boarding this is as much as I have to show for now.

I'm happy with my progress – anxious to see these  sections  coming together.

Much love from the friendly skies –

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The Quilt Show & Me!

We couldn’t have asked for a better day for taping in Texas.

Okay, so a BIT cooler would have been nice, then I wouldn’t have been sweating during our filming inside the house for the interview and show and share – by the time we got to my demos I’d suffered through at least one major hot flash and my hair was flat ---but who cares, we were having a really fun time!

And yes those lights are hot.

YOUR QUILTS ARE REALLY LARGE!

Yes, I know.  My quilts cover people that I love, they are not just home dec ornaments ---and they use up more fabric faster!

You are also REALLY tall!  ((Yes, so I had to sit on a hassock, instead of a chair which put me a bit lower, and drop my knees so they weren’t up to my neck ---LOL))

And then there was the fun of taping on location where local sounds can stop taping because they drowned out everything --- Garbage trucks, airplanes overhead, cement mixer trucks rumbling up the road.  There is so much going on behind the scenes it really amazes me how they can clip the bad parts out and mix a re-do with a first run and get it to seem like one continual well planned episode.

And boy, there were a lot of people and equipment in this one room!

If it looks as if I’m in awe, I am!

My next segment was held in Jane’s studio, a wonderful building out back of the house.  We set up my demo pieces and step outs, and I got to test the Bernina machine – demoing the easy angle, leaders & Enders and string piecing.

Are you ready to do this?  YES!

This is the monitor we could watch, to be sure what we were demoing was on camera.  If you don’t see it here, it isn’t recorded!

Here I was explaining to Ricky the wild mix of neutrals I like to use – and I brought everything, even a piece from the dress I made while The Hubster and I were first dating.  The block had hand dyeds, old calicoes, modern black on white, and recycled fabrics in it ---a good example of what I tend to work with.

See how close cameras are, and those dang hot lights again?

Next time, it’s a pony tail!

It was a great experience, let me tell you!

I will let you know as soon as they get back to me on when my episode will be airing.  Right now they are taping a bunch of episodes with all different kinds of quilt artists from traditional to modern and everywhere in between.  I heard about a lady from Nebraska who has over 300 toy sewing machines?  I can’t wait to see that episode!

They have 3 more days of taping in the San Antonio area ---for a total of 8 shows filmed while here.  Yesterday was a full and hard day, we didn’t get out of there until 5pm, and to know they are doing this again every day through Thursday –wow.  These are some really hard working folks to put their best into what they do so we can enjoy it all from the comfort of our own sewing rooms.  Bless them all!

As for THIS girl….after 2-1/2 weeks, she is on her way HOME!

Click Here to like our Quiltville Friends Page on Facebook for more fun!
You do not need a Facebook account to read the Facebook posts - They are viewable to all! Feel free to read & quilt along with us!

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