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!!

What a swap!

If you read a lot of blogs, you are probably familiar with Janet O of Rogue Quilter blog.  She is a much better blogger than me!  Janet and I have gotten to be friends through blogging, and have talked about having a little quilt swap for the last few years.  There was always something going on, and we were both busy, but we finally decided to buckle down and do it, and we were shooting for November (2017).  Well...that didn't quite happen, but it did finally work out for us in January!  LOOK AT THIS!!!

I love everything about this!  Janet makes lots of small quilts but I think she really outdid herself on this feathered star - I'm still just amazed by it.  As you can see by the yardstick quilt hanger, this little quilt is about 11" square, and the star is about 5"!  And look at the beautiful quilting - she's so talented!  Janet and I have dubbed this red fabric to be our "favorite" red, and look how much she shared with me.  I put some of it in the little 9-patch quilt that I sent to her too - can you find it?

There were some other goodies in my swap package...

I just love the note cards - a stained glass bee hive, what could be more fitting?  My mom owns a stained glass studio where she sells supplies and teaches classes, and of course, my hubby does the glass work on our jewelry, and he raises bees, so these are just perfect!  I was secretly hoping that Janet would send me more of her wonderful hand made soap, and she did!  It smells sooooo good.

Make sure to read Janet's blog post about our swap.  So glad that we were finally able to do this - I will treasure my little feathered star forever.

New and Awesome!

When I posted the other day, I mentioned that we have a new product, and here it is...

Now you might be thinking...big deal...it's a spray bottle.  Well let me tell you that it's the best spray bottle EVER!  It sprays a really fine and even mist - no big splatters of Best Press on your fabric. On my ironing board, I have one for Best Press and one for water.  You use much less product, with a way better result. Aunt Nancy gave me my first one and I was just amazed at how long I used it before I had to fill it up again.  There is a liner inside the bottle (sounds weird, I know) that allows you to use up almost every drop before refilling.  Another great feature?  You can hold this bottle at any angle, even upside-down and it still sprays perfectly! Amazing, I tell you!  If you have followed me for awhile, you know that we don't carry a lot of different products - mostly just things that we make - and you will never see anything on my website or in my booth that I don't use and love.  So trust me on this...I'm not just making this up - these bottles are awesome.

And, these are not just for ironing...my step-daughter immediately wanted one for spraying her plants.  My friend, Nancy, was getting her hair cut when she noticed that the girls in the salon were  using them.  So trust me on this one...they are the best!

Have I convinced you?  If so, you can get yours on my website and we will also have them at shows.  Oh...I forgot...we decided that we wanted to personalize our bottles - they were just so plain.  My friend, Kim, told us about all of the cool things her kids were doing using a Cricut. Her son gave us a demonstration and sold us on it.  We bought one and put it into production as soon as we got it!  So the letters and star are vinyl...not some cheap sticker that will rub off or look yucky if it gets wet.  It's a little labor intensive, but I think they look great (if I do say so myself, lol!).

I'm sure you've heard enough about the bottles, so I will shush now - but will tell you where we will be vending this year.  I'll post more details about each show when the time gets closer.

Dallas, TX in March (Yikes - that's coming fast!)
Shipshewana, IN in June
Springfield, MO in September

I will be presenting my trunk show in April in:

Williamsburg, IA
Winterset, IA at the Iowa Quilt Museum

Ok...go buy your spray bottle, then have a great weekend!

Yep...my customers are the best!

You know that I love to hear from my creative customers, and once again, Betsy has been busy!  She ordered this pendant with the snowman in the center, and added tons of beads - look how pretty...

Betsy was in my "Surprise" program as well, and one of the items included was a Creative Grids ruler with my company info on it.  I love that she sent me this picture to show me that she was putting that ruler to good use!

I haven't put these on my website, but will take them to shows. 

We also have another brand new product that I can't wait to show you, but they aren't quite ready yet.  Another day or two and I will post about that.

Since it's almost February (can you believe it?) I have been making some heart pendants.  I wear my heart jewelry year around, but it's extra fun around Valentine's Day!

I also put our popular binding box back on the website...

And look at all of these bees!  This is only part of what went to Deb Strain - she is the artist who designed this bee fabric.  She travels and does trunk shows/presentations and wanted have some of our bee pendants to sell.

Of course, I still have lots of help!  Clearly Daisy has worn herself out and felt the need to sleep on the job.  She cracks me up...

I finished this top and had Callie and Daisy both inspecting it (Ozzie was busy sleeping!)

 This picture was from a month or so ago - the snow is all melted now.  My husband has a drone and took these pictures of our house - doesn't our red house look pretty in the snow?

That's all for now, I have to get busy - will be back soon with that new product.  You are going to love it!

Have a great day!

Thanksgiving???

I have been reminded (you know who you are!) that I haven't posted since Halloween!  Time sure does fly by - I can't believe it's almost Christmas.  It sneaks up on me faster every year.  So to get ready for Christmas, we made lots of trees and snowman pendants.  I love this 1 1/4" tree and the  little pine cone charm.  I made a ton of these and have just two left - you can see them on my website...

A few other trees - these are both 1" x 1 1/2"...

But we didn't skip Thanksgiving!  We had more people here than we've had for a long time.  You all know Aunt Nancy  (haha - you should - I talk about her on here a lot!) - well she and Larry came for Thanksgiving!  I was so excited - they live in northern Minnesota and don't get here very often.  And...my niece Emma, who lives in Florida, was also here - pretty much just for the day - she flew in Wednesday afternoon and left on Friday.  I took 2 pictures on Thanksgiving - here are my beautiful nieces take a nap together after having waaaay too much food.  They also have one of my step-daughter's dogs napping with them.

And the other picture is a loaf of garlic cheesy bread that my husband made.  It's too good!

Daisy was being a friendly little kitty until the dogs got here.  Evidently she was not around dogs in her short life before she got here (she was only about 6 weeks old when she showed up on our doorstep) because she even hisses when she sees Boomer through the sliding door.  Anyway...enjoy her cuteness...

 One of the reasons that I haven't posted forever is because we have just been swamped with orders for the last couple of months.  We've sold loads of jewelry and hundreds of ruler boxes - which takes a lot of time to package and ship.  Daisy thinks it's fun to help in the shipping department...

 She sleeps in the funniest positions.  And see her mouse on the right side of her?  I found that mouse under the covers of our bed the other night.  About gave me a heart attack.  Then there is the sparkle ball...she and Callie both love sparkle balls.
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Callie and Daisy were getting along great - even snuggling up to sleep...

 But we took Daisy to be spayed this week, and Callie has been growling at her ever since!  I would have thought she would have gotten over it after a day, but she even woke us up in the middle of the night last night - Daisy was trying to snuggle up to her and she was growling, and finally got mad and left.  Geesh!  Get over it!

Ozzie still growls at her sometimes, but here they are sharing some breakfast.

My husband was not looking forward to setting up the Christmas tree, knowing that it would be interesting with a kitten in the house!  Here she is getting ready to pounce on it!

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 And here she is after it was set up!

I waited a few days to decorate it, and didn't put any of the glass ornaments on it.  She's been climbing it and knocking off the ornaments and carrying them around the house.  It's been interesting!  She loves to lay under the tree and take a nap - that's when she looks so sweet and innocent.

If you are in my Surprise program, you've already seen this - part of the last Surprise was a hand painted wooden ornament from Theodora Cleave in Australia.  With each ornament, came a stitchery pattern with instructions to make a little stocking.  Instead of the stocking, I just made mine into a round tree ornament.  It's obviously not perfectly round...I'm calling it primitive, but it was fun and quick to stitch and I think it's really cute.

You've probably all seen this quilt before - I designed it a few years ago - it's called Gathering Scraps.  It has been at Primitive Gatherings ever since I made it, and I made a smaller version to hang in my booth when I vend at shows.  I'm happy to say that Gathering Scraps is back home with me now!  Out of all of the quilts that I've designed, this one was my favorite to make.  

And now I will end on a little more cuteness.  Here is Daisy being adorable - she's in a drawer under the sink in the bathroom!  PEEK!

She likes to sleep on my pillow - annoying, but adorable...

 And this is her new favorite place to lay in my sewing room.  I'm making lots of bee pendants for Deb Strain (she designed the bee fabric) and Daisy is helping.

Yesterday we had our annual cookie bake, and guess what?  I didn't take one single picture!  It was really fun though - kind of a small group this year - my mom was here - she's been really sick for almost 2 weeks, so I was really happy that she was able to come.  My SIL couldn't come because her mom was in the hospital, but Johnna was here, and also my step-son's GF.  She's the best - lots of fun to be around and she has 3 fun kids too!  Unfortunately the kids couldn't come, so it was just kind of quiet.  But we made a lot of stuff and had a good day.

So now you are all caught up!  I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!!

Happy Halloween - from Punky & Daisy!

You know I love it when my customers share pictures of projects they make using my patterns.  Well, look at this little cutie - just in time for Halloween!

Maryann M. sent me this picture of Poor Lil' Punky - isn't he cute?!  I love all of her fabrics, but really wish I had some of that piece that's in between his eyes.  Fun!

We had a little pumpkin carving party last weekend - you can see that some of us (not really us, I didn't make one because I can't be trusted with sharp objects!) put in a little more effort than others!

 Hubby carved the flag - I really like it...

It was a fun night!

And...we have a new member of our fur family!  A couple of weeks ago, my husband came home and said he thought he saw a kitten outside under the truck.  He went back out to look and said he couldn't find anything.  The next day he was busy making a bazillion ruler boxes in the shop, and kept hearing a meow.  He spotted the kitten, but couldn't get close to her.  He tried coaxing her with food - which is almost impossible with 2 dogs and numerous outside kitties!  It was cold and rainy, and I was feeling really bad for the kitten - but we couldn't get close to her.  I decided to leave the overhead garage door open a little bit, with some food in the garage, so maybe she would at least get out of the rain and have a bite to eat.  I made up a little bed too, just in case!  I checked first thing the next morning, and someone had definitely been eating the food, but not using the bed - but no kitten in sight.  I checked a little bit later and saw her run under the van!  I quickly shut the door...CAPTURED!  She was scared, and hiding, but I was persistent and eventually coaxed her out.  As soon as she crept out, she started purring and rubbing on me!  Poor little thing was cold, wet and scared! We fed her and decided to give her a bath.  At this point, I'm not sure what we really thought we were going to do with her, but hubby put a little litter box in the garage and I named her Daisy!  So back to bath time.  She was fighting it at first, but then calmed down.  DH turned her over (belly up) and held her under the water to rinse her and we discovered she was covered in fleas.  DISGUSTING!  The water must have felt good to her, because she just kind of went limp and let him hold her belly under the running water - trying to wash out as many fleas as possible.  We got her all dried off and back to the garage ASAP - didn't want to share those nasty little things with Ozzie and Callie.  The next day hubby went to the vet and got some flea/ear mite/wormer medicine for her.  Within 2 days all fleas were dead (thank the good Lord!).  We decided to give her a couple more days, then we would give her another bath.  So on Friday (less than a week after we found her), she got her second bath and she's been in the house ever since!  Not sure why - we really didn't have much discussion about it - it just seemed like it was meant to be!  So here are some of the pictures I have taken (there are a million more, but I'll save some for later - lol)

Here she is when she was still a garage kitty!

 You can see that she quickly turned into a sewing room kitty! (See her cute ear fluff?)

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 She likes sleeping here - it's so nice and toasty!

 Interesting place to sit!

 Nothing like getting into your food...literally!

Seriously....look how cute!

Awwww...she often sleeps with her tongue out!

 Ozzie and Callie hated her when she first came in.  They both growled and hissed at her constantly.  After a day or two, we could tell that Callie really wanted to play with her, but didn't make a move just yet.  But, she loves to swish her tail at Daisy - very nonchalant, like she's not really playing with THAT KITTEN.  I have pictures of CC doing this with Callie when she was a kitten!

 Definitely progress!

Ozzie still growls at her, and doesn't play with her, but he is tolerating her a little better - as in - he doesn't growl as loud or as often!

Gotta go - Daisy is here, trying to walk on the keyboard - maybe she has ideas for her own blog post?

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!