Behind The Scenes....

I've been busy ladies....

Really!!

 The Guitar Man left me in kind of a mess....

so I have been spending 12 hours a day in the shoppe...

getting BOM's caught up.

Certain blocks sometimes take hours to put together...

such as these...

 You build fabric....

upon fabric...

(Notice the Color Chart...this is always done when I am in the process of designing anything.)

upon fabric....

See the labels??

My beloved customers love me for this!

It's a job....

but so much easier for me to do...

than for them to have to figure out.

Especially in one like this...

when there is 16 different fabrics.

And more pieces...

Until finally...

they are packaged up 

and ready to send out!

Then comes pattern making time...

This block had 14 full pages!

So if anything....

I see ..

that 

I 

kinda....

had...

Guitar Man

overloaded!

No wonder he went to look for work elsewhere!!

(Ha!) 

Oh...and some of  you wanted to see the pic of this month's block.
It is actually the 9th month to Buttercream Summer
which is when all of the first 8 blocks are put together with 
checkerboards and fan blade blocks.

 

Happy Stitching!

I was robbed on Thursday!

Oh boy....

they got my laptop,

my big TV screen that was hooked up to my work computer,

and the computer and keyboard,

the hubbies tools

and our safe.

I'm 49...

and it's never happened to me before.

Guess it was my turn. Sad face.

I really think I came upon them.

When I walked into my house,

I saw the bathroom light was on and I thought

to myself,

"Wow..I'm always getting onto Ken for leaving the

lights on ..

how could I have done that?"

Well all of my jewelry was in there...

and it was left,

as well as Ken's work computer

and my Bose.

Kind of freaky.

And poor Guitar Man....

he's out of town and is having a fit!

Both him and my son are ready to come with 

a trailer and load me up ...

back to Utah. 

It's kinda nice to have boys so protective!

I'm still determined that this is going to be a good year!

 

It's always exciting for me....

when someone deems my pattern worthy enough

to make for themselves!

This is the class from

Quilting Squares and Knit Emporium 

I surprised them and showed up with the quilt last Saturday

so they could see what they are making.

Here are some close-ups of the blocks

Kay 

their teacher is making...

Sunshine in the Shadows Block

Friends Are Like Flowers Block

Grandmother's Flower Garden Block

Strawberry-Li-Cious Block

Flowers for Sale Block on top and another one in progress...

It was the highlight of my day stopping in there.

"Can't wait to see your finished quilts ladies!

I have been up to my eyeballs in work,

seeing the Guitar Man is out of town working....

and I'm trying to do both of our jobs here!

 But I'm going to try and get some more posting done 

in the next week to show you what I've been up to!

Have a wonderful Thursday everyone!

 

MIA??????

No my friends....

Just busy, busy, busy....

And on the road almost every weekend.

 I head out again early in the morning (4 a.m.)...

My parents have asked me to meet them in Orlando, Florida

for the weekend!

Yippee!

So this is just a quick update!

Someone asked about the soldier boy quilts....

They are being worked on.

I have a dear quilting friend who is helping me finish them up.

(Marla, darling what would my life look like without you??? 

Shudder!!)

We will share pics as soon as they are done.

There was some intense drama with the soldier boy's family...

Tory got really hurt,

and I just couldn't work on them for awhile.

We are cutting way back on our shows too.

That's big news around here.

We're beat to say the least.

Ken is looking for work...

so we shall see what this new chapter brings in our life.

Just wanted to let you all know that I am still alive and kicking.

All of my time has been spent working on the last borders

for the Block  of the Months. Whew....what work!

I miss you all!!

Hugs and Love...

On The Road Again....

Back at it ladies...

The Guitar Man hanging quilts in Naples Florida...

Slowly...but surely....

this is how a booth comes together....

 The other side of the booth...

Just thought you might want to know....

I haven't been sitting at home...

eating my chocolate bon bons...

reading my lusty novels...

and twiddling my thumbs!!

We've been to Freeport IL for a show...

and in less than an hour we are headed out for 

the Smokey Mountain Tennessee Quilt Festival

down by Knoxville!

Back to Naples....

love ... love... love it down there...

We managed to get down by the sea...

 With some coffee of course...

Nice long walk....

Walked around snapping pics of lov-er-ly beach houses...

...I could live here if I had to...I'm sure!

While walking around

we found an 'Artist's Studio Tour' going on...

But seeing we couldn't purchase tickets there...

we had to move along...

(tug at the heart...I love these kind of things!)

Gotta Run....

Parisian Summer Block of the Month Mystery Quilt so far....

And here it finally is....

The inner part of Parisian Summer!

I finally managed to figure it all out......

what a  process....

I am happy with it though.

Hard work always does pay off!

What do you all think?

Here's some of the process of it going together....

I can't tell  you how many times...

I started adding the checkerboard sashing to the blocks...

only to realize I hadn't put on the prairie points.....

You would think I would have only done it once!!

Not!!

See...doesn't it look great???

Whoops!

No Prairie Points...

rip...

rip...

rip...

Here is some of the work on the design wall....

Commissioning fabrics for the outer border....

Working the Dresden Blocks out....

Sewing blocks together....

Adding Sashing....

And more sashing....

Piece by piece...it finally all came together.

Until the last border was sewn on. ~~Whew...~~

And a photo shoot in the backyard for Mary Jane's Farm Magazine.

Now to hand embroider the last 4 borders...

I will be burning the midnight oil...

stitching,

stitching,

stitching.

Stitching in the car...

at shows,

at quilt guild meetings,

when visitors come....

Ah....

the life of a quilter!

~Happy Days to You'll....from lil 'ole Tennessee~

A Quilt Along I'm Joining....Come on Over and Play....

Ladies here is a Free Block of the Month you might want to check out!

I've never done one of these before  so I'm excited!

Click Here To Read All About It!!

I'm going to link up to it tonight...so run over there and join up!

They are doing it in two different color ways....

And they have kits available if anyone wants to go that way.

These are the fabrics I am using:

I hesitate to take on any projects 

because of the work/design load and

travel schedule I have....

But I'm just 'a needin' to  do somethin' for lil ole me...

if you know what I mean!

I'm determined to get some projects done for this new little place of mine.

I will keep you posted on all of the progress...

(...or none of it....smile!)

Toodles....

Exciting News!

I have been chosen for a feature article in the Upcoming August/September issue of

Mary Jane's Farm Magazine!

I am over the moon!

It is my first time to be in a national magazine.

Dear Deb over at

Deborah Jean's Dandelion House

approached me a few weeks ago about it.

We've been busy doing photo shoots for them....

we aren't professional photographers....

so that all can kind of get interesting.

But last week, finally the pics we sent were a go.

Mary Jane's Farm Magazine is one I was buying when it first came out years ago.

I can remember taking the first issue over to my girlfriend Nancy's house and showing it to her.

We both lived on 2 1/2 acres each just outside of Las Vegas on our own hobby farms.

We both milked our goats,

made cheese,

slaved over our organic gardens,

fed our chicks

gathered their eggs. 

and even had Quilt Night once a week!

Wow!

Where did the good 'ole days go?

Ken and I are hoping to get back to a hobby farm

within the next 5 years.

We just haven't figured out how to make it happen

with being on the road and all.

Oh how I miss,

sitting out on the porch as the sun rose over the mountains,

sipping on a steaming cup of mocha,

the Guitar Man would bring me,

quiet time with the Lord.

And then on out to the garden ...

weeding,

gathering,

milking,

feeding....

all before a day's work was to begin.

I can't thank you enough Deb for thinking of me!

Please check out her site my dear readers.

She is quite an inspiration to behold!

And thank you again my sweet friend!

Love over the wires....