2018 Christmas Ornament

I just realized that I've posted all about our new Christmas ornaments everywhere, except here on my blog.  So...even though I said we would not be making any more, we will leave the sign up open for another day or two so that my blog readers who don't use other social media can take advantage of this special new product.  The response to our new Christmas ornament has been overwhelming - thank you! Be sure to see all of the details below!   You can order now at www.meandmystitches.com  We've been making tree ornaments for family members for several years, and when I posted a picture of them last year, many of you wanted in on the fun.  So, this is your chance to get in on the beginning of this collector series.  Each year we will come out with a new and different ornament, which will be dated on the back and on the box.  That's right...the cute handmade box is included!  The lid slides on and off and is perfect for storing your ornament.  Quantities are very limited, so if you don't want to miss out on this exciting new series, be sure to order now.  Ornaments will be shipped late November to mid December - in plenty of time to decorate your tree or to give as gifts.  This would be the perfect gift for your quilting friends, and you won't have to come up with a new idea next year - just sign up each year to continue receiving this unique and exclusive collection. As with our jewelry, this ornament is paper pieced and is 1 3/4" - a little bigger than our pendants so that you will be able to see it on your tree.  The box is made from our yardsticks, but is unlike any of the others that we sell.  The lid slides on and off to protect your goodies inside. Hope you love our new ornament!

Ozark Piecemaker's Quilt Show

I hope you can come and see us at the Ozark Piecemakers Quilt Show in Springfield, MO!!  Here are the details:

When:    September 27, 28 & 29, 2018
Where:   Ozark Empire Fairgrounds
               3001 North Grant
               Springfield, MO
Hours:    Thursday & Friday - 9:00 to 5:00
               Saturday - 9:00 to 4:00

You will find us in Booth #43

There are over 80 vendors and hundreds of beautiful quilts!  Don't miss it!!

As for us - we will have all of our usual products and some new ones too!  Tiles!  We won't have many of these, so if you want one...come early!  We will have a couple of different designs and colors.

Of course, we will have tons of spray bottles.  The pumpkins are my favorite - I love that scary cat on the lid!

New sheep scissors with a few scissor fobs to go with them!

I have lots of new colors of socks - so fun!  Here are just a few...

And if you don't come for any other reason - come to see this quilt!  Remember my Patriotic Pineapple design? 

When I made this little quilt, I really, really wanted to make it big - I thought it would be so eye-catching in a larger size, but I just didn't have time to do it.  So I settled for a 32" x 40" wall hanging, these are 4" blocks and each has 37 pieces in it.  But...my customer, Jenny, bought this pattern at the Ozark Piecemakers show 2 years ago and she made it more than big!  Here are the stats - mine vs. Jenny.

Size:              32" x 40"             108" x 140" !!!!!!!!
# of blocks:   80                         945
Total pieces:  2,960                   34,965!!!!!

And the most exciting part of all?  Jenny is bringing her quilt to the show where it will be on display in my booth!!  I'm so excited - I just can not wait to see it!  Make sure you come to my booth to see it - it's going to be stunning! 

Hope to see you at the show!

Always catching up!

I said in my last post (yes...it was a long time ago!) that I felt like each of my posts should be titled "Catching up" and this is no different!  I have the best of intentions to post regularly, but there just is not enough time in the day.

So...to pick up from where I left off...we went to the Shipshewana show in June - and it was awesome!  My friend Kym went along to help and we made a few fun stops at cross stitch shops along the way.  I know that I have mentioned that I had a crazy (stupid?) moment and started cross stitching again.  We don't have any shops near us so everything I had gotten up to that point had been online.  Being surrounded by tons of patterns and threads and linen was fun and maybe a little expensive!  I now have many projects kitted up and ready to stitch.  Clearly I had forgotten just how long it takes to finish a cross stitch project!  I have been plugging away on the Farmhouse Christmas series - they are fun and easy to stitch.  I am almost finished with month 7, and have received month 8 and that just leaves month 9 and we will be finished!  You can see that Daisy likes to stitch as well.  Or she likes to chase the thread and make things difficult. One of those things.

 This one is called Quaker Diamonds and I really love it! I haven't worked on it forever, but I hope to get back to it soon. 

When in Shipshewana, we spent some time with my friends Jill and Vicki from Yellow Creek Quilt Designs.  I met Vicki at the very first show that I vended at - in Galena, IL, but have always admired their designs.  They invited me to a retreat in July and I went!  It was so much fun, very productive, and in a beautiful setting in Browntown, WI.  Here is what I worked on there...

It's a free pattern by Kim Diehl, and the fabric was also her design.  The center is supposed to have cotton applique, but I've decided to do wool applique instead.  That decision was easy because Carla and Annette from The Woolen Needle were also at the retreat and they have a whole shop full of beautiful wool - so they were happy to help me out!  I haven't touched it since retreat, and who knows...it might not happen until the next one (in February - I can not wait!!).  But it was nice to actually work on something other than work!

Next - my friend Nancy, from California came for a visit.  We met in Osage, IA for the sole reason to go to the cross stitch shop there.  Well...I wasn't thinking...they are CLOSED on Monday!  AAAACCCCKKK!!!!  Here are Nancy & Kym peering in the windows (we did this about 4 times, and also went to the back door...just in case someone was back there that might take pity and let us in!)

Nancy and I went to a reunion retreat in Oelwein at LouAnn's Quilt Shop (I don't think she has a website) & Retreat.  This was set up for everyone who went to the Bonnie Hunter retreat hosted by Jo & Kelli last year (you know...where I started 3 projects and finished none).  It was a lot of fun and so nice to catch up with some friends that we met last year.  LouAnn has a very nice shop and a really wonderful retreat space.  It's a beautiful old building and she has really done a lot of work and made it amazing.  If you ever want a nice place to retreat - consider calling LouAnn.  I did work on one of my quilts that I started last year, but didn't get it finished and I guess I didn't take any pictures either!

I know that I've mentioned before that Nancy is a good friend and also a very generous friend.  She brought my Christmas gift with her.  I absolutely love it!!!!

One thing that has been keeping us extremely busy are those crazy spray bottles!  We sold just shy of 500 of them in Shipshewana!!  They were featured in American Patchwork and Quilting recently, and we had tons of orders.  We are also making them for other shops with their name and logo on them.  And then I thought it would be cute to make a few Halloween bottles - I love the pumpkin, but I really love the black cat on the lids!

 We aren't going to make very many of these, but I thought they were fun!  We will be taking a limited quantity to our next show, which is Ozark Piecemakers, in Springfield, MO, at the end of this month.  More on that later!

I've added some new items to my website - these cute little sheep scissors are one thing, and we recently found tiny little machine cleaning brushes that are great to get in the nooks and crannies of your machine...

I had a special order for a little churn dash pendant...

Hopefully some year I will have more time and be able to make more of these - I thought this one was cute - the little flag in the center makes me happy!  That was from some fabric that was gifted to me at retreat from Kim & Becky of Plays with Wool.  Kim was making a patriotic quilt and I came home with all of her leftovers.

For some reason I keep selling out of scissor fobs, so here are a few that I made recently...

And now I have to get to work!  I will post again (really...I will!) before the show in Springfield so I can give you all of the details on that - but mark it on your calender...September 27-29!

Have a great weekend!!

Headed to Shipshewana!

We will be on the road to Shipshewana, IN next week!  So many quilters talk about the great shops there - this will be my first visit - so if there are any "must see" places - let me know!  I already have plans to visit Lolly's and Yoder's, but not sure of much beyond that.  Aside from shopping, the real reason we are going is to vend at their quilt show.  Here are the details:

Shipshewana Event Center

760 S. Van Buren Street

Shipshewana, IN 46565

Days and hours of the show are:

Wednesday, June 20th - 12:00 Noon - 5:00 p.m.

Thursday & Friday - 9:00 - 5:00

Saturday - 9:00 - 3:00

I hope you can come and see us there!

We will have all of our unique products - and a few new items as well!

My pin cushion maker (that would be Aunt Nancy!) just sent me a new batch of pin cushions - I LOVE these patriotic ones...

 We will have tons of jewelry with us!

 The hubby has been super busy making lots of new ruler boxes - this one has my favorite Valdani threads for all of your patriotic projects...

 We still have some of these great Yazzii bags in several different colors. Those along with our project bags are sure to keep you organized...

Many of you have purchased our great spray bottles, and I see that they are really catching on - a major quilting supply distributor even carries them now.  But, they are charging about the same wholesale price as we sell them for retail (their suggested retail is $14.99 - we charge $9.95)!  We have even personalized the bottles for other shops - so if you have a local shop who is interested in carrying these great bottles - give them our e-mail address - julie@MeAndMyStitches.com and we will send them the information. 

We offer 8 different colors on our website, and we will bring even more colors to the show - gray, teal, turquoise, several shades of purple and red - so many fun choices!

 Ozzie is not so happy about the show - he is used to me giving him snacks about a dozen times a day (my hubby doesn't give him as many when I'm gone!).  He's giving me "the look"!

Hope to see you next week in Shipshewana!!

I always feel like the title to each of my posts should be "Catching Up"!  I seem to be blogging less and less - there just isn't time for everything and Instagram is so much faster, so that's where my posts usually are.

We've been busy, busy - our little ruler boxes were in the Quilter's World (Summer 2018 edition) magazine, and will be in Vogue Patterns coming up - so we've stayed busy with that.

And we've sold tons and tons of spray bottles (thank you all for that!).  You will be seeing these in a magazine this fall.

And our next show is coming up quickly - we will be in Shipshewana, Indiana in less than a month.  Show dates are June 20-23rd.  I will post details in a few weeks.  I've never been to this show before, but it sounds like the majority of the town devotes the entire week to quilting, so it should be really fun.

I can't remember if I mentioned before that I started cross stitching again.  It's been over 20 years - I used to stitch a lot, but when I went back to school I put it away - there just wasn't time.  I was working full-time, helping to raise 2 kids who were involved in sports and many other things and then started taking classes 2 nights a week.  Then I started quilting (which I didn't have time for either!) and the rest is history.  I have a few friends who love to cross stitch and have tried to get me back into it, but I resisted until I saw the Farmhouse Christmas Series - and I just decided to jump back in!  Here is one o the blocks from that series...

This is my first full finish since starting back in cross stitch.  My friend Lois from Elegant Stitches did the finishing - isn't it cute? If you've ever bought hand dyed rick-rack or poms, it could very well be from her. Lois sent me a good picture showing the inside of the box too, but I can't get it to download to my computer, so maybe next time!  Here you can see that Daisy seems to think the box is in her space!

I've talked about my niece, Johnna, before - here is a picture of her with her Mom and Dad (my brother) at her college graduation.

+

 And Johnna with my Mom and Dad...

 And of course you need to see the kitties.  I can't believe how huge Daisy is.  She is soooo fluffy.  Callie is on the left, and Daisy on the right.  I'm glad they like each other.  Ozzie and Callie never lay near each other.  They get along fine, they just don't get cozy!

This just makes me laugh - Ozzie is about to fall asleep standing up.  He's exhausted from sleeping all day!

 Here are Daisy and Callie just chillin' in my sewing room. See how Daisy is all stretched out?  They really have the life, don't they?!

And here is a flashback from 25 years ago!  This is my grandma and me at my cousins wedding.  Grandma had Alzheimer's and this was a tough day.  She was confused - I think because there was a lot going on. But in other ways it was a great day - fun to see my cousin Phillip and Miekka get married.  They are who I stay with when I vend at the Dallas, TX show.

Hope you have a great week!  Make sure to mark your calendar for the Shipshewana show!

Surprise!

Have you heard about our Surprise program?  You can read about it on my website - I've had tons of requests to run it again, and when I did...I sent out a newsletter, and posted on Instagram and Facebook.  And BOOM!  Sign ups came flying in (THANK YOU ALL!)  But...the bad news is that there are only THREE spaces left.  So, if you want in, go NOW and sign up!!

Here are some items we've included in the past.

Who knows what you will get in Surprise this time around...after all...it's a SURPRISE!!!

Have a great day!!

Iowa Quilt Museum

Don't forget - if you are in the area, I will be at the Iowa Quilt Museum, in Winterset, Iowa, all day this Saturday, April 7th.  I will be presenting my trunk show (with about 50 quilts) at 11:00 a.m. and again at 2:00 p.m.  There will be a quick demo of paper piecing, and of course, I will be bringing lots of goodies so you can shop! The current exhibit is Feed Sack Quilts and I can't wait to see them all.

This ALWAYS happens when I'm packing up for a trunk show.  Callie is the reigning queen of the quilts!

Here are a few pendants that will be with me in Winterset...

Little 1" heart scissor fob...

I just finished the binding on this bow tie (this was a leader/ender challenge from Bonnie Hunter a few years ago) quilt, and am including it in my trunk show...

And a few more new pendants...

This is pretty much what Ozzie does all day long...

And this...THIS...UGH!!!!  Look how big Daisy is.  And look how NAUGHTY she is!!!

    Hope to see you in Winterset!!

Hope to see you in Dallas!

It's time to get packed up and hit the road to Dallas, TX!  We love this show, for lots of reasons - it's a great week that I get to spend time with family.  My niece always goes to this show with me, and we stay with my cousin and his family.  The quilt show is a great one, and it's fun to see some of our favorite customers.  Here are the details...

Dallas Market Hall

2200 N. Stemmons Freeway

Dallas, TX 75207

Friday, March 9 - 10:00 a.m - 5:00 p.m.

Saturday, March 10 - 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Sunday, March 11 - Noon - 5:00 p.m.

Make sure to go to their website to see the raffle quilt - it's really pretty- I'm going to have to buy some tickets.  You can also see a list of all of the vendors - around 120 vendors this year!!  

We will have lots of new things, including our amazing spray bottles...

And several different sizes and styles of bags - these Yazzii bags are so perfect to keep you organized, especially if you do a lot of wool applique.  It will hold up to 20 balls of Valdani, plus your scissors, needles and other necessary items, and they roll up to be really compact.

Another favorite thing that helps to keep me organized are project bags.  I have tons of them in different shapes and sizes for all of my different projects that are in the works.  We will have 3 different sizes at the show, but this one is my favorite.  It's 16" x 16" with a "duck" canvas on the top and bottom, with a clear vinyl center.  

We are bringing lots of ruler boxes...

Tons of our tiny, paper pieced jewelry...

 So many new pin cushions...

And our wild and crazy socks...

And that's just part of it, we have many more things for you to see.  So...come to the show!  We will be in booth 210/212.

See you there!!