Me & My Stitches

Me & My Stitches
Click on the picture to go to my website. These are 1 1/4" pendants.

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Happy Saturday!

The show in Iowa City was lots of fun last weekend!  My friend, Becky O, helped me on Saturday - which was awesome.  We haven't gotten together for a long time, so it was nice to be able to chat.  We had plenty of time to visit in the afternoon because it started snowing and all of the quilters stayed home!  My husband helped on Sunday, which was also fun.  He hasn't ever helped me at a show before, so it was nice for him to meet some of the people and just to see how everything works.  He's had some great ideas of how to make things easier and better for future shows.

I finally finished a new quilt design.  My goal was to have it all done and the patterns ready to sell at the "It's a Gatherin'" show in Stover, MO on April 4th and 5th, but when I was invited to the I-80 shop hop in Iowa City, I rushed to get the binding sewn on, and brought the quilt along to the show and offered the pattern as a pre-order.  It is called "Dottie's Dashes".
As usual, it's not a good picture, but at least you get the idea.  I hope you can see some of the quilting if you enlarge it - Kym Ward from Reds Threads worked her magic on this.  I am always so impressed with everything she quilts for me - she does such great work!  I'm getting closer to being finished with writing the pattern and having it ready to publish.  Lots of people ordered it at the show, so I really need to get it finished!  Pattern writing is not my favorite thing, and I need to learn to write the pattern first, then make the quilt - but it never happens that way in my world!  Oh, and it really is square and not all wonky like it looks in this picture!  It's a fairly large quilt (72" x 84") and I was trying to just get a quick pic to show you, without rearranging my sewing room for a clear shot!  The "dark" fabrics are all from the Jo Morton line called Ember Reds and Evergreens and the "lights" are all from different lines from Primitive Gatherings.  Do you remember when I was begging for that black fabric?  It was to finish this quilt!  I had a half yard bundle of the Jo fabrics - which was obviously not enough for borders and binding.  The original plan was to use something that coordinated for the borders, but in the end, I really wanted the same fabrics for borders and binding that were in the quilt top.

Speaking of fabric designed by Primitive Gatherings - have you seen Lisa's newest line called Homestead Gatherings?  Oh my!!  When I saw that they had the pre-cuts in, my first thought was...well...Happy Birthday To Me!!  I ordered them right away and have been playing with them ever since!  Blacks, reds, greens and brown!  YUM!!  The red is so nice...dark...LOVE IT!  See the houses?  LOVE!
 Now normally when I buy these fun bundles, I can hardly stand to open them up and disrupt the perfectness.  But, I just couldn't help myself on this one and I cut into them immediately!  And the results...
Obviously, they aren't finished yet - but you can see the fun I had!  Really, really love these fabrics!

One more thing that I wanted to share...look at this adorable birthday card that I got from my customer and friend, Nancy B.  Obviously she knows me well!  Isn't it just adorable?

 See how everything pops up?  So cute!  Thanks again for thinking of me, Nancy!

And what's a post without a fluffy?  Well, it's just incomplete!  Ozzie likes to be close...sometimes a little too close...
And Callie just thinks he's weird (pot calling the kettle black!)
She's a little wide to be resting here, but she was happy.  Another reminder of why I buy lint rollers by the case!

Have a great weekend!

18 comments:

  1. Hi Julie
    Those kitties are just the best!
    I love your new fabric and the resultant jewelry! Beautiful as always.

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  2. I absolutely LOVE your new pattern, Julie!!
    And I didn't know about Lisa's new fabric line--very yummy! You have done beautiful things with it. I enlarged the photo and just sat and stared at those wonderful tiny creations. : )
    Silly kitties--make me giggle!

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  3. Love that picture of your kitty laying on your sewing machine :-D
    Your quilt pattern is wonderful & your jewelry just the cutest

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  4. Your pattern is wonderful Julie!!! Churndash is one of my favorite blocks :) I love the pics of your kitties - I've never had one sit on top of my machine before - how funny!!!

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  5. Great quilt! Love the churn dashes. When you figure out the perfect pattern writing scenario, please fill us in! lol

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  6. Aww, kitty love! Glad DH was able to attend the show and offer some help and ideas.

    OMG I love love love that pattern. I would want to pre-order, too. Even thought I'm not sewing so much right now I'd still want to pre-order. I'm pre-paring for when my hand is better and if its not I predict I can get some help. :)

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  7. Happy Birthday, Julie! How nice that your hubby went to a show with you! I ADORE your new quilt design! Churn Dash is my favorite block! I can't wait for you to get the pattern ready to publish! You're one talented designer! I'll be standing in line for it!! Gracie May and Sasha say Meow to Ozzie and Callie! I think they love the top of the sewing machine because it's warm and close to mama!

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  8. Happy Birthday! I love your fur babies. I need a closeup of those mini's hanging on the back wall. Sew cute! Your new pattern is a keeper. Carol and I were telling each other that we need to put it on our schedule.

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  9. great scrappy quilt! that cat on the machine is so funny!
    Happy Birthday

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  10. Happy Birthday and great scrappy quilt!

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  11. Happy Birthday Julie!
    Add my name to the long list of pre-orders! LOVE Dottie's Dashes... seems the traditional blocks never go out of style. I love how you've presented the churn dash!!! Ozzie and Callie make me laugh... Callie seems to be begging for attention!

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  12. That is a great quilt! LOL at the cat on the sewing machine! Too funny!

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  13. Your pop up kitty card is adorable but not as much as Ozzie and Callie!
    Your square in a rectangle pin is my favorite. They are a great use of new fabrics. I love that you get to buy fabrics for work. Sorry - haven't sent the box of scraps yet. I finally picked up a box and discovered there is still room to squeeze in more!

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  14. Love your new quilt and your new miniatures. I hope the pattern writing goes well....

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  15. Love Dottie's Dashes. Churn Dash has been on my list for a while now and this might just be the one. Good luck with creating the pattern.

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  16. Awesome pattern. Good assortment of fabrics, so many of us have scraps to use. I see many options for it :-)
    Fun card, and LOVE the fluffy pictures. Keep sharing those too.

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  17. Still thinking about Dottie's Dashes, and can see it in two colors, cream and navy for me :-)

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  18. So, I love your kitties, but I'm a kitties person. Tell me about the Stover Show. So where is the Stover Community Building? I live in Northern Iowa, so you maybe in my area. Thanks.

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