The Whitewash Fabric is HERE!!!

IT'S HERE! IT'S HERE! IT'S HERE!!!!
Finally!  Enough is here that we can put it up on the website!  I just got it all put on there a few minutes ago.....WHEW!

It's here just in time, too, for the Fall Stitching Sojourn Retreat!  We'll have everybody here next weekend and I can't WAIT!  We have everything A L M O S T  ready........we just have to arrange some pumpkins and clean up some of those pesky dust bunnies that live under all of the tables..........who am I kidding?  They're reproducing like MAD and they live EVERYWHERE!!!  If I could just get Honeybunny to dust......I KNOW he's capable if he'd just apply himself!

The Walla Walla Quilt Festival was SO MUCH FUN!!!  What a great group of people the organizers are... alot of fun, and really good at what they do! ................and I got to meet Eddie Walker!!!!!!!  She lives in Walla Walla!!!  I have to admit that I made a fool out of myself....Geez!

Anyway... I bought WAY too much fabric, sparkly stuff, jewelry, you name it.... at the vendors. Ahhh....all in all a VERY good weekend!

Have a great week!  xox Meg

Show & Tell!

WOW!!!  Do we ever have a lot of show & tell to share!!!  Let's start off with a "BANG"!!!  This is an adaptation of "Susan's Dresden Garden" made by Josephine de la Cruz Keasler from Riverton, UT.

 I just love what she did with it...the applique is gorgeous and the sparkles are beautiful!  Truly breathtaking Josephine!  Thank you for sharing it with us!

 This is "Snowmen A to Zzzzz" made by Paula Smith. She won not only the Best of Class and Reserve Best of Show...but a People's Choice award too!!!  WOW Paula!!!

 Paula wrote "I added one taken with all the ribbons (any more and I think they would have covered up one entire border.) I love winning those silly things!"  It looks like they were very well deserved!!!  Beautiful!!

 This "Winter Wonderland" was made by Carmen Sipes and was quilted by her husband George, and was entered in the AQS Show & Contest in Des Moines IA.  This is just plain exquisite!!!  Both of them did such a great job!!!  Look at the closeup!!  Are the snowmen stuffed lightly or is that just the effect of the quilting?  It looks SO COOL!!!!

 This is "Flight of Fancy" made by Mary Matt from Mt. Si Quilts in North Bend Washington (it's really pretty there by the way!) and she calls it "Birds".  I just love it done in browns!!  You know, this looks very masculine this way...a good quilt for a husband!...Hmmmmmm...... maybe I'll make another one in browns for someone I know!  Good job Mary!

 This "Snow Days" was made by Mary Rogers of Baird, Texas.  I love the color combination and the borders she added....beautiful!  She wrote "I loved every minute of making this."  It shows!!

 OOOhhhhh........I LOVE this border fabric!!!  Monica (She's in the witness protection program or something....only gave me her first name! LOL!!!) shared "Which Witch's Boot".  She did such a great job on it... Look at her crayon tinting!  Love This!!!!

This is "Hocuspocusville" sent in by Melinda Maw.  She wrote "I got the idea for the added color (an element in each block) when one day my granddaughter came over and was up in my quilting studio.  The black outlined/embroidered blocks were all arranged on my design wall.  Mia picked up a red crayon and began to color neatly within the lines of one of the cats (I'm sure she thought the cute little house looked like a perfect coloring book page).  Her mother gasped and yelled, "Mia, that's MaMaa's quilt!"  I calmly said, "That's fine Mia, that makes it look even better.  I'm going to sew that in just like that..."  Melinda donated this quilt to the Primary Childrens Hospital Festival of Trees Quilt Auction.  She says she's going to have to make another one for herself.  Beautiful Melinda, and such a great thing to do with the quilt, too!

This is "Over the River" made by Sharon Metzger.  She's simplified the piecing...it really showcases the embroidery, doesn't it?  Beautiful work Sharon!  She writes that she's getting started on Winter Wonderland and wants to make Zelda's Fancy Hat too....Get to work Sharon!!

This is an embroidery envelope made by Sharon Larson from Onalaska Washington (another beautiful place!) She writes that this is her second embroidery envelope and that she's teaching a class at Quilters Junction in Centralia, WA in a few days and will take pictures of her students with THEIR completed projects and send them in!!! YAY!!!!!  I can't wait to see what they come up with!

So pretty Sharon!  Thanks for making such a great sample for your class...and for teaching a Crabapple Hill pattern! xoxox

This is a "Wild Rose Sewing Wallet" made by Mary Ellen (Nash?....another witness protection program person???)  She says that she enjoyed using the "old family crazy quilting" stitches from her childhood and also embellished the wallet with some needle tatting, silk embroidery and beading!  WOW!!!  Very, very pretty Mary Ellen! 

This is our free heart quilt (they were free patterns on the website a year or so ago) made by Martina Schaefer from Germany (if I'm reading her email address correctly).  You did a beautiful job on this Martina!!  It's only the second one that I've seen completed.  I love the way you added the year to the banner in the corner!!  Beautiful, beautiful!

These last four quilts were all made by Helen Belcher from Huntsville Texas where she is a Historical Interpreter at the Sam Houston Memorial Museum. I've actually been to Huntsville many times!  We drive through there to get to and from Quilt Market in Houston!!!...I know...It's goofy of me...but I love being able to get a picture in my head of the places people come from.  Anyway........The Winter Wonderland and "Bluebird on My Shoulder" were shown in the Airing of the Quilts in Huntsville and she will enter them in the Walker County Fair next year.  The second "Bluebird" quilt is called "Tea and Bees".

All of her quilting was done by Becky Stowers from Tennessee.  They're all just gorgeous Helen! 

WHEW!!.........did I forget anybody??? There were so many emails and pictures I hope nobody fell through the cracks!  Thank you all for taking the time to send us an email with your images!

Well....I'm getting ready to leave for the Walla Walla Quilt Festival this weekend...I'm taking tons of samples and will be doing demo's of crayon tinting.  Come and say hi!

Sheila is going to be at the EE Schenck Trends show in Portland this weekend.  Since I was busy this weekend, she agreed to go over there and represent us for the show and do a make & take series!  I'm so proud of her and if you're going to be there...stop in and say hello & give her a hug.  It's her first time stepping out on her own and could use a little bit of encouragement

(translation....she's scared stiff!)

OH!  Thank you to Shabby Fabrics for honoring me with a designer profile on your website!  My heart's all "a'flutter"!!  And thank you too, to Hoffman Distributors for doing a designer profile on their website (this may just go to my head!! LOL!!)

Remember, come say "hi!" in Walla Walla.  I can't wait to see all of the quilts!!!!

xoxox Meg

Question???

Let's see..........no, you don't have to wash your fabric before coloring on it.

Yes, you can wash a color tinted quilt.  Just use very mild soap and cold water, no stain fighting anything, and take as much care as you would for any embellished piece.

No, our Santa wasn't stolen! LOL!!!  We put our Christmas tree out at the end of the driveway (anything we put out there will disappear before the day is out...MAGIC!) When Phil walked out there at dusk to see if he needed to drag it back to the studio...it was gone but a BIG sign was in it's place (The one on the previous post.  If you click on it, it will get bigger...then you can hold down the ctrl key and scroll up to make it bigger yet!)  It was SO FUNNY!!!!  We just couldn't stop giggling about it for a couple days!  The people who "abducted" it put an ad in the craigslist classifieds about it...they took "kidnap" photos of it, all lit up, with cutouts of Elvira and John Wayne!  Really hilarious!!!!

Yes, I'll do a color tinting tutorial soon...don't have time today!  I'm getting ready to go to the Walla Walla Quilt Show next week...trying to figure out what quilts and things to take...how to display them, etc...  I don't want to just hang stuff up!!  It's GOT to be pretty!  If you're in the area, stop by and say hello!  I'll also have a new little free pattern to give away!

OH! We have all of our Weeks DyeWorks embroidery floss on sale for 40% off....it's been put in 8 skein assortments.  I've decided it's time to just jump ship and make everything with Cosmo floss so we'll be converting all of the patterns and the Weeks floss will be only available while our supplies last.  Get it while it's HOT!  Beautiful floss....$10.00 for 8 skeins...usually $16.80...WOW!
Talk to you later!
xo Meg

The Joke's on YOU!

Well....there are alot of unsavory people in the world, but now I've come in contact with the WORST!  But......the JOKE'S ON YOU!!!! 

You think you've hit us where it hurts....

You think we'll just roll over and give you what you want?

Sure....we had a few really good years together.  We did our very best for him...bought him WAY too much jewelry...made a big deal over him.  Gave him our admiration, our love, and WAY TOO MUCH POWER!!!.....literally.

But then he started to go downhill. 

As he aged, he got a little bit ratty.... a little bit dirty. 

Parts of him drooped and didn't work quite as well as they used to.

But we still kept him around...still celebrated with him....told him he was beautiful.

WHAT DID WE GET IN RETURN???? 

He started wandering off.... running out at all hours of the day or night and we'd have to go get in the car and drive around looking for him.  We'd see him hiding behind bushes...trying to get away.  We'd drag him home even though he'd been plugging in anywhere he could, and sparkling indiscriminately for anybody who'd OOOOooooh & AAAaaaah!

Finally, we stripped him and tied him to the wall in our storeroom.

Then....yesterday when we were cleaning the studio, he sneaked out. 

By the time we'd realized he was gone it was too late.

We followed the trail of flocking down the driveway & this was at the end by the road....

Well..........JOKE'S ON YOU!!!!  KEEP HIM!!!!   But make sure you tie him securely or he'll run away from you too!!!!!!!

Where has the time gone??

 I'm SHOCKED!!  I had it brought to my attention yesterday that I haven't posted since late July!  What happened to August??  It just disappeared!!! 
We've had such a busy summer....one thing stacked on top of another, that it's just flown by!  Well...I'm finally going to tell you about the classes at Thimble Creek in Concord, CA.... It was SO MUCH FUN!!!!  We drove down for the four days of classes (beautiful trip to & from!) and got all set up in Roxie & Joe's huge classroom (we brought a "FEW" samples to hang!)  They had the room all dolled up....the project supplies in those cute little suitcases... and big pots of zinnias marching down the centers of the tables!  So summer-y and happy!

 I know I have these pictures mixed up.....as to which class/which day etc... but they're an overview of who/what/where.  Oh, by the way....it seems that the color tinting is serious business...lots of concentrating going on here!

 Isn't that pretty?  There were so many great color-ers in all the classes!

 Questions????.... "Put the camera down and HELP!!!!"   I only seemed to get pictures during the color tinting phase....during all the stitching time, I was moving around the room and didn't have much time to get photos..............everybody REALLY DID STITCH during the class, I swear! 

 Everybody was so nice.......very fun to talk to!  All such great stitchers too!  If it hadn't been for the new cast-on stitch flowers I think many of them would have finished their entire stitcheries in class!  Really!  They were THAT FAST!!!!  The cast-on stitch???  You'll see it in some of the up-coming patterns.....it's SO COOL!!!!  And really fun to do....a little fussy, but worth the trouble!
Then..........................you have the troublemakers!!!!  This looks like the same type of person who would teach everyone Japanese curse words at a retreat! LOLOLOL!!!!  This is Nireko!  She's very pretty when she's not making this scary face, and is so sweet.   I just love her!!!

 OK.... now I have to show you some of why I haven't posted since July.  Also, why if you've ordered recently there may have been a little delay in getting your order.  We've been SWAMPED!!  This is a picture of yesterday's invoices.........the ones that got filled.

 These are the ones that we didn't have time to fill yesterday....they'll get filled today.

 These are the ones that Sheila didn't have time to charge out so they could be ready to fill for yesterday.............did I mention that there will be an inbox full of new orders today to add to these?

I'm not complaining!  It's great to be busy and I'm so glad that everybody likes the patterns and floss, etc....  It's just that we've come to a point where we can't keep up!  I'm so sorry if you've had an order that hasn't gone out really quickly because that's really what we shoot for. 

It's just been the three of us.  Cindy and Sheila are up to their eyeballs (I'm actually surprised that there hasn't been a mutiny!), I've been trying to help (so that puts a cramp in time to design new things).  We just hired Karen to help and I have an appt. tomorrow to interview someone else who hopefully will come on board also.  We'll get back up to speed as quickly as we can, I promise! 

 Thanks for being patient with us!