On the road again!

I had to title this "On the road again" because my mom always sings that when we are on a trip!  

Last week I took a little trip to Oklahoma to present to the Pioneer Area Quilter's Guild.  I also did a quick demo on paper piecing, which was fun.  It seems to me that people either love or hate paper piecing - there's not a lot of in-between.  Hopefully a few more people will give it a try after my demo.  It really isn't hard!  After my presentation and trunk show, we had plenty of time, so we (my mom was with me) headed to Pawhuska to visit the Pioneer Woman's Mercantile.  If you aren't familiar with her, follow the link and take a look at her blog.  She also has a book that is a fun read, and has published several cookbooks, and most recently, a child's book.  You can read all about The Mercantile there.  She also has a cooking show, which is kind of fun to watch.  Her recipes are all hearty, and not too difficult.  

These tiny little hexagon tiles made me think of quilting...

 Love the door - the whole building is so neat.  They did a beautiful job restoring it.

This picture was taken from the coffee/restaurant side, looking in to the shopping area.  When we got there, we sat down and had a latte.  It was perfect, and nice to just sit and look at the beautiful building.  We were really lucky - it was a Monday afternoon and it wasn't crazy busy, like I had heard it usually is!  All of the employees there were really friendly and nice - one of them told us that people sometimes wait in line 5 to 6 hours just to have supper there!  I can't imagine!  But, again - we were lucky and it was a slow day.

This was discovered when they renovated the building - National Biscuit Co (Nabisco) - I love that they preserved it.  I'm not sure what the story is on the flowers carved into the wall, but it was really neat.

I took this picture and sent it to my husband - he loves pineapple upside down cake!

This is upstairs in the bakery.  They had lots of yummy things to choose from and I love this big open room and those windows!

If you ever have the chance to go, I would recommend it - we really had a fun visit!  I did buy a few things, but guess I didn't take any pictures.  I found a huge stainless steel bowl  - we have several sizes, but I thought this big one will be perfect for gathering things from the garden.  Will have to take pictures of the other things to share with you later. 

When we left The Mercantile we drove around Pawhuska a little bit, but there is really nothing else there, at least not that we found.  I did hear that a quilt shop will be opening soon - so that's good news!  

The next day we were off to Emporia, KS.  We poked around a little in town before we went to our Bed & Breakfast, then back to town to set up and give my presentation that night to the quilt guild there - another fun group!  It's always fun to be able to see Show & Tell when I visit these groups.  So much talent!

I woke up several times in the night and heard it raining and it rained on us the whole way home.  It was super windy and not a very fun drive!

We had a good trip, but as always, I'm happy to be home and back to work!  I recently stitched these little 3/4" earrings - this is the first time I've ever made the kitty earrings. The hand stitching was a little challenging at first - kind of tiny!

 These bees have been so popular - I seem to sell them faster than I can make them.  This is the latest batch.  A few of them have sold - I know there is one on my website, but if you are interested in one that you see here, just send me an e-mail.

 We've sold a lot of these little binding boxes too.  They are 4" x 5" and include the hand made pin cushion (made by Aunt Nancy!) and Clover binding clips.  We initially made these for my Surprise program last year, and they went over so well, we kept making them.  They are now available on my website - with the goodies, and also just the empty box.

Speaking of Surprise - I'm working on shipping out the newest box.  It is a lot of work!  And they are getting very spoiled this time - I went overboard, but I couldn't help myself.  I will tell you more about that next time, after they have received their goodies (don't want to spoil the surprise here!).  If you aren't familiar with Surprise - it is a 6 month program, and you get a Surprise box every other month.  I choose things that I love and use, and things that we make.  I try to make something special that you won't already have. It's been really fun!  When I was at the show in Dallas, I had several people tell me that they were in the program and loved everything that they received.  That made me feel good - because I truly do put a lot of thought into it and want you to love the things that I send.

Isn't this stack of fabric pretty?  I have some designs running around in my head that will include most of these fabrics.  I probably won't have time to work on it until this summer, but until then I will just enjoy looking at them!

 Here is Ozzie - he usually comes to get me when he thinks it's bedtime!  Doesn't he look sleepy?

 Ahhhh...that's better - a little catnap on my quilt!  I need to finish the binding on this one, then I'll show you a picture of the whole thing.  It's definitely Ozzie approved!

 I have way too much going on here - it's about 4 different projects, and you can see that Callie likes to be right in the middle of it all!

 And this is what happens to good kitties gone bad.  Jail time!

Now I better get back to the shipping department (haha - oh how I wish I had a designated room for shipping - and someone to do it all!) and get more of those Surprise boxes out the door!

Hope you have a great day!

 

Home from Texas

 I have lots of pictures, and will try to keep the words short & sweet!

The show in Dallas is my favorite show of the year - it is busy, busy - which is fun, and my niece goes with me (also fun) and we get to stay with my cousin Phillip and his family - which is the best part of all.  I love and miss them all so much!  And this year, Aunt Nancy (Phillip's mom!) flew to Dallas and helped us at the show.  Another wonderful part of this show is how many people that I know from Facebook, Instagram and blogging, that I get to meet in person.  Thanks to everyone who came and said hi - I love being able to put a face to the name.

Here we are in the process of setting up the booth.  Johnna is such great help - she moves stuff around until she's happy with how it looks, jumps up on the tables to hang quilts, etc!  The window frames you see below are what we display our jewelry on.

 Lots of boxes and socks

 See that cute cart in the front of the picture?  That is new...my friend Su Bunch from Piecekeepers brought it to the show for me.

 I love our vintage Wrigley's gum stand that we use for patterns, scissors, misc. notions and ruler stars.

And this is what happens when I leave Johnna and Aunt Nancy alone for 2 minutes!  They had a visit from the local police department. And you thought that the quilt police weren't real!

We had sooo many new things this year - don't these balls of Valdani look good in the little ruler box?  LOVE!  We also have Aurifil in a cute little box.

 Two of my new patterns (you've seen them before), but see the yardsticks that they are displayed on?  We sold kits for those as well.  They include everything you need to make your own little display.

 These binding boxes - first introduced in our Surprise program - were a big hit and are now on the website.

 The first (and maybe the last - these were kind of tough to stitch) time I have made kitty earrings - they are 3/4".

 Lots of 1 1/2" star pendants...

 And a 1 1/4" kitty with bling - love that charm...

 I had to wear this on St. Patrick's Day!

 I never did make it all the way through the quilts at the show, but here are just a few that I saw.  Beautiful!

My cousin's daughter loves horses, so I had to take this picture for her!

 We stayed an extra day to play! You can't be that close to Waco, TX and not go to Magnolia.  Do you watch Fixer Uppers?  Here are my cousin's daughter, Leah, and Johnna.  It was chilly in Texas!

 The crowds were crazy - it was spring break week and evidently everyone on the planet was here!

 Johnna's favorite place to shop is Goodwill!  Here she is in her glory - lol!

 I think my kitties (and maybe hubby too!) missed me.  Here is adorable Ozzie - he came to tell me it was time to go to bed!  He looks sleepy.  Isn't he looking good?  He had gotten super skinny, and we found out he has an overactive thyroid.  Now he gets his medicine twice a day (not fun for any of us!) and is gaining weight and looking like a pretty boy again.  He's back to wrestling with Callie, so I know he is feeling better!

We will have new patterns at the show in Dallas!

Visit our website for the details on my new patterns, or come and see them in person at our next show - in Dallas, TX!   This is a picture of our booth in Dallas last year.  I'm beginning to wonder where in the heck we are going to put all of our new stuff! I have three new patterns - all small, wall-hanging size.  The first one is called So Many Nines, So Little Time.  Nine patch blocks keep showing up in my quilt designs - they are just fun to make! The next little quilt is called Friendly Stars - love this background fabric! This is the first time that I've published a pattern with wool applique. I made up some little wool kits too - fun!   The third newbie is called Falling Stars.  I actually made one of these a year or two ago, but I wasn't happy with my quilting, so I didn't ever publish it.  I found a new source for wool (Tracy Trevethan Designs) and love her orange pieces, so I decided to make it again and leave the quilting to the professionals (Kym Ward from Reds Threads)!  All three new patterns are available on my website - www.meandmystitches.com    As for all of the other new "stuff" that I mentioned - we have the Valdani pearl cotton (size 12) that coordinates with these 2 new wool designs. They are so pretty - just like candy, only without the calories!  And while I was at it, I decided to keep some of my favorite things in stock, so I bought some Aurifil thread (packaged in a cute little ruler box!), and Clover binding clips.  Oh...and I discovered some needles for wool applique that I just love - they are made by Bohin and are my new favorite! All of these will be for sale at shows - they aren't currently on my website, because I have a limited number of spaces, and I just can't put everything on there.  If you see anything in this post that you would like, just e-mail me. We also have many new shapes and sizes of ruler boxes.  This one is awesome - it will hold  your whole project; blocks, pattern, pearl cotton, scissors, needles - and about anything else you might need!  It's about 10" x 12".  These are only going to be available at shows for now because shipping costs on this are almost as much as the box! And of course, we will have lots of new jewelry.  I spent several days making bling - tons of little bead sets and charms - lots of flags, bees, hearts - just something for everyone! We have so many other new items that I want to share, but this post is getting too long, so you will just have to come to a show and see for yourself!  Here is the info for the show in Dallas: Dallas Market Hall NW Corner of I35E and Market Center Blvd. Dallas, TX Friday, March 10 - 10:00 am - 5:00 pm Saturday, March 11 - 10:00 am - 5:00 pm Sunday, March 12 - Noon - 5:00 pm   You will find us in booths 210-212 This is a really great show - tons of beautiful quilts and lots of great vendors.  Hope to see you there!! You would think I was sick if I didn't show you a picture of my fluffies - you can see that they are working really hard to get ready for the show! Don't forget to take a peek at my website - I added a lot of new jewelry last week. Have a great week!

Time to catch you up!

I haven't posted forever, and almost didn't today!  Blogger has made some changes and it took me forever just to figure out how to start a new post.  I really don't have anything to exciting to post about, so maybe it would have been best to NOT figure it out - lol.  Our next show is a month away (YIKES) in Dallas and we are just really busy trying to get lots of new things made to take along.  We will have lots of our ruler boxes with the pin cushion and binding clips.  These were originally made for our first "Surprise" program, and since everyone seemed to like them, we decided to make a bunch for the show.  Here is the batch we made for Surprise...

My aunt made all of the pin cushions.  I sent her different fabric for the ones that we will take to Dallas - there are some from Kansas Troubles fabrics, two different fabric lines of Betsy Chutchian, and one from Barbara Brackman.  They are all really pretty.

Surprise 2 just got started (thanks to everyone who signed up!) and this is the first mailing!  My mom came over and helped me one day last week - she wrapped all of these for me, and I got them in the mail on Tuesday, so if you are in the program, you should be finding a surprise in your mailbox soon!

 Mom also stuffed a bunch of patterns for me.  I was low on almost all of them.  And...I have THREE new small patterns that will be finished soon - I'm just working on the binding on the last one.  I know that some designers whip patterns out really quickly, but it takes me forever.  Mostly because I do it all myself, and I have a million other things that have to be done too.  I'm excited about these new patterns, and will even have a few kits for 2 of them.  And...they have a little bit of wool applique - something new for me as far as designing goes.  I have a limited amount of fabric to use for them, so I only have about a dozen kits of each, but plan to make up some that are just the wool.  Seems that most of us have a nice stash that we can use for the piecing, but not everyone has a great stash of wool.  I also now have Valdani pearl cotton available to match the wool in the little kits.  And of course, we will have lots of different shapes and sizes of ruler boxes to keep all of your stuff in!

We've been making lots of jewelry too.  I feel like I've never really caught up after the show in Dallas last year!  It was busy all last year, with shows, and sales on the website.  I have a whole box of pendants that need some bling added to them - maybe that will happen next week.

Here are a few 1 1/2" pendants that we recently finished.

My quilter, Kym Ward, has also been busy.  She quilted my new little quilts, and I also had a few others that she did for me.  This was a Christmas gift from my friend, Nancy.  She didn't have time to get it quilted, but it's done now - isn't it wonderful?  I love it!

And this is designed by Betsy Chutchian, also made with one of her fabric lines.  I just love everything that she does.  There was lots of fabric left over, so I pieced the back, but didn't think to take a picture of it.  My quilter does not love a pieced back, but she didn't yell at me too much about it!

There doesn't seem to be much spare time, but I have worked on these funky chicken blocks a little bit.  This is the first stitchery pattern that I've ever done, and I have to say that I really love it!  It goes so fast - that's what I need...something that can get finished!  This kit came from The Little Red Hen in Muscatine, IA.  Love it!  I've never been big on chickens, but my niece loves them, which has made me change my tune a little bit.  I still don't ever want the real thing, but the stitchy kind are good!

And of course, I have lots of help from the kitties, but Ozzie was taking a little break here.  He's had to visit the vet twice - he had lost A LOT of weight, and they discovered that he has an over-active thyroid.  So now we have to give him medicine twice a day.  We tried crushing it and sprinkling it in his food, but he won't eat it.  So, instead we have to cram it down his throat and it's not fun for any of us!  But, he's gaining weight and looking a lot better - what a relief!

 I guess you get a little peek of 2 of my new little quilts!  Callie was being so helpful...

That's all for now - I think you are caught up on everything here!

Have a great day!

Surprise!

If you know me, you know that I LOVE a fun mail day!  Well, I want to give each of you a few fun mail days too!  Last year we started a new program, called Surprise!, that was such a hit, we decided to do it again.  In these Surprise boxes, we will include some of our original handmade items, and also a few things that we sell at shows, but don't have room for on our website.  This won't be like some of those programs where you get a bunch of things that you don't like or won't use.  This will be good stuff - the things that we make ourselves, things that I love...just some of my favorite things.  The picture above shows a few of the items included in the first Surprise program.  If you struggle to find new and unique gifts for your quilty friends this is a perfect gift idea.  Treat them with fun mail too! Below is just one of the things that was included in the Surprise program last year - a ruler box with a handmade pin cushion and binding clips.   By purchasing "Suprise!" you are committing to the full 6 month program where, starting in mid February, you will receive 3 shipments - one every other month.  Your first payment secures your spot for the entire program.  Before each new shipment, I will send you an  electronic invoice for $35, (which includes shipping and handling within the US) that can be paid using a credit card, or PayPal. There are only TEN spots left, so go to our website now- www.meandmystitches.com and sign up now to secure your spot!