Wow!  Has it ever been a week here!  

Every morning we have our little "get our ducks in a row" meeting, and it seemed like there was just too much to accomplish each day!  Finally, I think we have everything ready to go!  

Sheila is printing the last of the new patterns today & Cindy(with an"i")  will get them put together & ready to go.  

Cyndy(with a "y")  is putting the new designs up on the website this afternoon & has the information ready to go out to all of the designers who donated blocks for the "Forget-Me-Not" quilt so we can get it all to them as soon as we get the green light from Bethany at Susan G Komen.  Sheila is sending the quilt to Vicki at Quilts Inc. today, so that it will be there in time for Spring Market..... 

I've finished working on the new front page for the website (& this of course!) and the email newsletters are ready to go.... the new "Flight of Fancy" quilt blocks are all drawn (finished them last night) & I have all the light fixtures chosen for the new house so that we can order them tomorrow, I have an appt. with the cabinet guy & one with the countertop "dude" (Boy!  Is

it ever hard to get soapstone samples.  We're going to have to go to Seattle to some big countertop place.... darn! I'm not looking forward to the traffic!)............ Geri has just finished payroll & balancing the checking acct. for another two weeks & all the bills are paid.................. Brad, the framer & his team have the first storey walls up this morning (THAT was a shocker!).........WHEW!   I think we're ready for this pattern release!!!

On a more "from this planet" note!..... Mandy Meierotto from Mason City, Iowa sent us a picture of a tote bag she made using our "Breath of Spring" pattern in a recent issue of Quiltmaker Magazine.  She writes that she'd wanted to make herself a "girlie" bag & this really fit the bill!  She used a tote pattern from the HGTV Quilting Forum http://mamaspocketbook.com/freepinkoctpattern.htm    It really turned out beautiful, Mandy!  I just love that you used the design for something other than the pattern in the magazine.  It's so much fun to see your own take on things.... different colors .... stitch them on different things.... really personalizing things & using your imaginations!  Does my heart good!   One of the blocks of the new "Flight of Fancy" quilt says  "Every flight of fancy gives my heart wings".... it's so, so true!!   Thank you, Mandy!  Thank you, all of you Knot-y Girls!!

Susan G Komen for a Cure Quilt

Hi!
We've been working feverishly to get all of the info & images together for Susan G Komen for a Cure & Quilts Inc. so that we can send everything off! Anyway.... that's the explanation for the test images we had on the last posting.......... sorry......... sort of left for the weekend & forgot to change it! We've had to figure out which images (lighter.... darker..... somewhere in the middle) would work best for printed materials & which for web viewing.
SO!! This is the front & back of the quilt..... finished, done, finis, YAHOO!!! Thanks for all of your comments! We'll have all of the info and links to Susan G Komen with how-to's about the "raffle" etc.... really soon!
Our newest designs will be ready to put up on the website by next monday, May 4th. We'll be sending out your email newsletters on friday (well....that's the plan!). If you're going to Spring International Quilt Market next month, our new stuff will be in the United Notions & Lecien booths so that you can see them in person.... Hope you like them!!

Test back slp

Test slp

My Flight of Fancy!

Yesterday brought so many beautiful surprises!!

We received fabric from Moda by French General called "Rouenneries" that just immediately got my imagination running wild! For some reason I kept seeing birds! (my robin friend maybe???). When I emailed Lissa Alexander at Moda about LOVING the fabric, she emailed me images of the entire line............ you won't believe this!........... it has a bird print!!!! Anyway, I've designed the quilt itself & have started drawing the embroidered blocks. It's going to be redwork & I'm going to call it "Flight of Fancy"!! I'm going to use Lecien's Cosmo embroidery floss......... THIS IS THE NEXT EXCITING PART!............ they have floss that comes on spools & is already just 2 strands!!!! YAHOO!!!!! I got some of that yesterday too! Yup, yesterday was Christmas!

We'll be carrying the Cosmo floss & should have it available before too long. They also have a floss on spools that has 3 strands...........hmmmmmmm............... opens up a WORLD of possibilities! Nireko from Lecien also sent swatches of lacy, embroidered, really fine ecru fabrics. That really got me thinking too! I can just picture what to do with it! Now I have to get busy & start drawing!!

Talk to you later! xox Meg

Robin's Nest

Well...... here's a quick update on the robin that's madly in love with my car! He & my car.... who we'll call.............Shirley...................... are starting a family it seems!!! He's chosen lavender clippings, moss & dried sage leaves as building materials (VERY classy interior design choices that will snazz up that engine compartment in a FLASH!)

I feel like such a rotton person, cleaning it off................ but I HAVE to be able to drive my car!!! (& honestly..... we all know that there won't be any eggs laid any time soon! Exactly how big would an SUV egg be????)

If you'd like to see one of the images of our Forget Me Not quilt for Susan G Komen for a cure you can visit the blog of our beautiful & generous photographer Sandy! You can see the quilt (& while you're there you have to browse through her galleries!) at http://www.summerlandphotography.com/ & click on "blog".

We should have the rest of the images early next week & will be able to send the quilt away to Quilts Inc. so that they can have it for display at Spring International Quilt Market in Pittsburgh PA next month! I'm SO excited that we're finally ready to finish all of this up & get it out "on the road"!!! We'll be able to send quilt images & individual block images to their designers as soon as we get them so that they can put them up on their blogs & websites etc.... Thank you, Thank YOU, THANK YOU ! to every one of you lovely ladies who contributed your time & talents!!!

xox Meg

Hi!
Susan commented that I had confusing info about the Cosmo floss on the last post..... did I say it was overdyed???? What a dork I am!!! No! it's not overdyed & yes, it is colorfast. YIKES!!!

Oh,.... by the way,...... "he's" back. I should name that robin if he's going to be a permanent fixture. This morning his name was "#$%@^&*}# insane poopy bird" but I think I should probably come up with something else............... ?

OK, no more pictures of dirt..... I promise! No matter how tempted I may be in coming months.

We've had a lot of questions about the new quilt patterns! ...... they won't be available until the first part of May............. We used two prints from Moda's "Sweet" collection for the "Snowmen A to Zzzz" quilt and the fabrics for "Vintage Trick or Treat" are all just collected from here or there with several from Lake House Fabrics including the orange border dot ...... both used DMC floss..... and yes, they'll both be single patterns, not block of the months!

We had some excitement on Saturday! We received a block for the Susan G Komen Forget Me Not quilt (it's already completed, quilted, photographed.... YIKES!) from Judith Baker Montano. Her block is SO GORGEOUS!! but we can't use it in the quilt.......duh!........ so we're going to make a pillow with it & they can include it as a "surprise" with the quilt! Well.... they may decide to treat it as a separate item........ I don't know, that will be up the the foundation! Anyway, it's going to be VERY pretty & will use the same fabrics that are in the quilt. YAHOO!!

We've received two more show & tell photos! The first was sent in by Shellee "hiccups" of her friend's "Over the River....." quilt. It was made by Karen Hopkins.... didn't she do a beautiful job??

Next is "Twas the Night....." made by Linda Kroon from Folktales in Lynden, WA (Boy, I'll bet it's gorgeous in that part of the state right now! That's near where all of the fields of tulips & daffodils are that you see on postcards & in travel magazines etc... Wish I was there!!) I wish the photo was clearer so that we could see all of her beautiful workmanship! Her email must have smooshed it down to a lower DPI when she sent it... YIKES! It made it tiny!

I just spoke on the phone with Emma from Buttonberry in the UK. They're always so much fun to talk to, very nice ladies! I have to admit that we love the accent.... we've all said that even if they said "Your patterns are hideous & we detest all of you!" , it would still sound so sweet with that accent & their pretty voices! It's always lovely to hear from you Emma!

Oh!... thought I'd let you know that I've decided to carry Cosmo embroidery floss from Lecien. It's beautiful, colorfast, easy to work with floss that has a color palette comparable to DMC so it will be easy to use a conversion chart. We'll still carry Weeks Dye Works hand dyed floss too! It's SO GORGEOUS!! We're going to be ordering next week so we'll let you know when it arrives & we can get it up on the website!!

Happy Easter!! I hope you have all of your decorations up & that you get your eggs dyed on time for Easter morning!!!................... you know what??? Other than "Here comes Peter Cottontale, hopping down the bunny trail........" I can't think of any other Easter songs other than hymns! No, wait a minute................" Easter Parade". Know of any others?? Someone needs to write a song about that sugar coma you go into when you've had too many "peeps"! Been there, done that!! xox Meg

Happy Thursday!

Just thought I'd let you all see why we're not shipping until next week! I'm a prisoner in the studio!! They dug a moat around me!..... actually, there's no water involved unless you count water pipes. Mostly, this is for a new power line etc... for the new house. We've been assured that by tomorrow evening they'll have everything in & inspected & re-filled so that we can get in & out of the driveway again. Phil has parked his truck out at the end by the road so that we can get in & out if we want to play "Indiana Jones" and take off across the Grand Canyon out there. When I just think about it I start to hear the theme music!!! I'm thinking it will have to be quite and emergency before I'll venture out..................... we'd have to....."gasp!!"........... run out of Diet Coke!!!!

We'll be back to normal by Monday & the girls will be able to come back to work & we will be ready to fill all orders, sorry for the inconvenience!

xox Meg