Monday, January 24, 2011

Ahhh....the desert sunshine...

My Original Whimsy Lane Pattern
 We made it to Yuma.
It's been awhile since we've done a guild show....
and I forgot how much fun they are.

Example....

The Guild Chairman Evelyn Mosley...
brought us an organic orange and tangerine
from the tree in her yard...

And then this darling 12 year old girl came up to me
and wanted to show me her first quilt
that she had made completely herself
adapted from my Whimsy Lane pattern...


When we have been off the road for a few months
it is always interesting....
the first set up of the year!

But somehow we managed to get the booth put together...








My Demo Table

My French Apron Pattern


The other side of my demo table...

And now for the beautiful quilts hanging in the show....
An incredible Cathedral Window Quilt







A quilt made from my Pinkilicious Pattern

This was the most awesome 'Signature' Quilt I have ever seen!
Signatures from all the piano students, friends and family for the recipient.
And 3 times a day
there was an Antique Bed Turning in the back room.


An Antique Bed Turning
incorporates a bed laden with quilts...
and as each one of them is held up, the story is told about the quilt...

Very unusual to find a 6 pointed Star


They are then folded over at the end of the bed...
to reveal the next quilt...



This quilt above had something I had never heard of before.
A Moustache Band!
They were used at the top of the quilt,
to protect the quilt from a man's moustache!

And at the end while the Guitar Man was breaking down,
my ex-husband's aunt, Claudia
picked me up to take me to dinner at 
a fabulous place called Julianna's


This wonderful lady made me a handmade Grandmother's Flower Garden...
King Size...
hand pieced, hand quilted....
when I married her nephew.


I am sad to say I was 18...
and used it until it was in threads...
and then lost it in a move!


This was long before I was a quilter myself.
Oh...the follies of youth.


The other person in the pic is my nephew's wife Denita.

Julianna's was so amazing...
I had to take Guitar Man back there
to have a meal with him.


I had him pose with this  metal mariachi band.


If you look close below...
there were these amazing and noisy birds....
serenading us while we ate too.



Make sure to head over to Quilt Story
for 
Fabric Tuesday

And now it is off to Phoenix!





Friday, January 21, 2011

Madame Samm has been working her magic....

Oh Ladies....
Darling Madame Samm....
over at
has been waving
her magic wand...
over 
The Scrappy Appleyard!

Just look at that new header she designed for me.
Oh I think I am tickled down to my
tippee toes!
I received a call from this amazing lady...
last Sunday.
She has asked me to be a guest blogger in 
April, May and June...
over at
Stash Manicure.
I feel humbled and honored.
It will be my first guest blog appearance.
I'll keep you posted....

I'm going to be giving away....
A Complete Buttercream Summer
Block of the Month Quilt
over there....
so make sure you tune in!!!


I'm at a show...
busy as a bee..
so off I go...
Thank you Madame Samm...
My heart....
    John'aLee

Monday, January 17, 2011

What it's Like....Around Here....The Day Before A Hard 30 Day Quilt Show Run...

For any of you out there who thinks it's a glorified life....
this being on the road all the time...
getting ready for shows....
I thought I'd show what a day around here is like...
ahhh...
the day before....

The Guitar Man is up early...
very early...
assembling and cutting kits...
After much badgering from the wife
over the years...
he's gotten pretty good...
at keeping a list going...
so he doesn't forget anything...
(Note from wife: something is alway's forgotten...)

Finished kits...

Time to reflect for a few minutes

The wife knows...
she'd better start this day out right...
because it's going to be a tough one...


She throws some bones in a pot for some chicken stock...
Heads to the studio to get  a little sewing in...
knowing if she doesn't make some headway 
on these postage stamp quilts...
they might not ever get done....
seeing all her worldly goods are 
coming home with her from this run...

Time will be spent setting up house...
so she sews...

And Sews....

Guitar Man is faithfully working away in the shoppe...
Making  Kits...
And More Kits...
Yards and yards cut down and packaged...
Fat Quarters and more yard pieces...
The wife starts gathering up demos...

BOM samples...
Handwork for the car...

Strains the soup stock and adds 
a bunch of goodies...

Guitar Man's having a bad day...
so wifey figures she'd better make him his favorite...
cornbread...
She even adds...
heavy cream to the soup for him...
They work til midnight...
they are supposed to leave at 6 a.m. the next morning...
Next morning....
it's 11 a.m.
still loading...

Now doesn't this sound like fun???
Hopefully we'll see some of you on the road.

Our first stop is a guild show in Yuma AZ...
the next week Rusty Barn's show in Phoenix, AZ...
the following week, Rusty Barn's show in Denver....
Awww...
then a few days with the grand babies....
Til later...

John'aLee