Celebrate!

I hope everyone here in the U.S. had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration!  And now (only after Thanksgiving for me!) we can start to decorate and celebrate Christmas.  I really need to find a tree - we had one that I really liked that had the lights already attached, but Callie played a little too hard in that tree as a kitten, and DH had to fight those lights every year.  Last year, after Christmas...he pitched it into the trash!  Now I can't find a tree that I like and I don't know what to do about it.  Right now the only trees we have are these...

For decorating, I want a 7 foot tree, but today, we will settle for these 1 1/2 and 1 1/4 INCH trees!  And because this post is about celebrating...today we are going to celebrate Small Business Saturday, by offering free shipping to anywhere in the U.S.!  It's a great day to spend in your jammies, shopping from home (isn't every day a great day for that?!).  So go take a peek at our website and do some Christmas shopping!

Another thing that I'm celebrating is my Gathering Scraps quilt.  After I finished it, my friend Lisa Bongean from Primitive Gatherings asked if she could borrow it for awhile to take to shows.  Here it is in their booth in Des Moines...

They have kits available for it in the shop and online.  I talked to Lisa the other day and she said that they sold out of patterns in Houston, so that is really something to Celebrate!

Now it's your turn...what are you celebrating today?  Whatever it is, take a little time out and help small businesses and at the same time, take care of some Christmas shopping - 2 birds with 1 stone!

Callie (see her waving through the chair?!) and Ozzie say "celebrate and shop with us!" (wow...now that is cheesy...I better stop here!)

Have a great weekend!

What a great time we had at the show in Ft. Dodge, IA.  Such a super guild - the ladies were all so nice and very helpful, and so smart - they put their husbands in charge of all of the food!  They had lunch for us each day and also made us supper on Saturday night.  And on top of all of that - we sold lots of jewelry and loads of socks!  So many socks, that I had to order more for the next show, and they will be here today.  Speaking of the next show...it is in Clear Lake, IA and here are the details...

North Iowa Quilters One-Stop Shopping Spree

Best Western Holiday Lodge

I-35/US 18 - Exit 194 West

Friday, November 14th from 10:00 to 5:00 

Saturday, November 15th from 10:00 to 4:00

There will be 13 vendors and lots of fun!  Hope some of you can make it there to see me!  My aunt has a home in Mason City, so Mom and I go and stay with her, and my aunt helps me at the show and Mom runs around and sees the sights :).  But...we have had a bit of a problem with that plan...Mom fell and broke her arm and had to have surgery last week.  Which, much to her chagrin, means NO DRIVING!  So...I may be working at the show by myself and Mom and Aunt Nancy may be off playing without me.  I'm sure it will all work out.

I've decided that the rest of this post is just going to be a hodge podge of random stuff that I haven't shared with you yet!  Mostly pictures, not a lot of words.

You know how I love a good mail day - well, one day, my friend Nancy sent me this book - it's a great book and I was lucky that she accidentally bought 2!

 And another day Nancy sent me this adorable Annie.  I love her!  Check out this website to find one for yourself!

 She made herself at home on top of the quilts...

 Another fun mail day, but this was from Aunt Nancy.  A few scraps and a super-cute note pad.  Nothing better than pumpkins and cats!

Do you plant zucchini in your garden?  If so, you know that one plant yields about a bazillion zucchini!  We do all kinds of creative things with them, but the yummiest is these brownies!  So good!

 This is an old picture, but this is one of the cute little kittens that Dottie had.  They are all so big now - as big as their Mommy already!  They have the shiniest, softest fur and are all adorable and hilarious to watch!

 I made a little visit to one of my favorite quilt shops...Inspirations...in Hills, IA.  Nancy always has lots of new samples (all gorgeous) and new fabrics.  Love that shop!!  I took just a couple of pictures...

 And here are a few things that jumped in my car...

And since I am obsessed with the new socks we are selling...I thought I would share one of my many pair. I really can't wait for the new ones to get here - I will probably have to have another pair for myself.  I have had a lot of people ask me if they will be on my website.  Probably not...but...if you are interested in them, send me a note and I will send you pictures of what I have.  They really do make great gifts.  One lady in Ft. Dodge bought NINE pair!  Some for her and some for her grandkids.

I should have posted this a long time ago.  This is the final block for Charming 2.  Teresa C is from Australia and she is the only person who sent me pictures of every single block.  She should win a prize!  And maybe she will....that should be an incentive for those of you in Charming 3 to get to working on your blocks!

 And speaking of Charming 3...this is just a few of the first charm. We were working on these up to the minute I sent them out and I didn't ever have them all in a big pile, like I usually do.  I didn't get any pictures of the bright ones.  I hope to do better next time (which is right around the corner!).

That's all for now...hope you have a great day!

Packing up!

We've been working hard making lots of jewelry for our next show, and now the time is almost here!  We will be vending at the Fort Dodge (Iowa) Area Quilters show called Harvest of Color, this weekend!  Here are the details...

Webster County Fairgrounds 4-H building
22770 Old Hwy 169 South
Ft. Dodge, IA

Saturday, October 25th - 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Sunday, October 26th - 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

If you are anywhere in the area, please come out and say hi!  We have a ton of new things made up and just a few more to do before we head out on Friday.

I've made lots of pumpkins in all shapes and sizes.  New this year are the1 1/4" and 1" x 1 1/2" sizes.

 So many people are getting into English paper piecing, and we have lots of hexies for you!

 Take a look at the stand on the right side - that holds stained glass quilt blocks that my mom made for the last show

And now we have added a few more...

The pumpkin is 6" and the flag is 3 1/2" x 6".  Cute, huh?

And we are taking more socks!  We have lots of the calf length that I showed in a previous post and have also added these great ankle socks - I LOVE them!  The first batch sold out in 2 days so I re-ordered to have plenty.  

And in between, I decided on the borders for this...but haven't done any quilting.  I figure I should have it done in time for Christmas!!

And now I need to go get busy!  Hope you have a great week and that we see lots of you at the show this weekend!

Fall is in the air!

I have made a lot of quilts since I started quilting, but really don't have anything seasonal.  I want seasonal quilts!  I have many patterns and some kits for Fall and Christmas quilts, but I don't have the time to make anything big, so I just keep putting it off.  Yesterday I couldn't stand it anymore and had to make SOMETHING for fall!

It started out like this (4" finished block)...

 Then turned into this...

 It's kinda cute all sewn together!  But, I needed more!  And it had to include wool...

 Ahhh...that's better!  And Ozzie obviously approves!

I stitched on it last night - stay tuned to see where it goes from here!

I LOVE these trees.  We live in the country and my husband planted these Amur Maple trees in our yard - they block our view of the road (which is a good thing!).  Aren't they gorgeous?  I just wish they were outside of my sewing room windows so I could see them all day long.  Now I only get a view of them if I leave home, or walk to the mailbox.  But, he just told me that he has a few more planted in pots, so hopefully he will put them where I can see them easily from my favorite room in the house!

Enjoy this beautiful Fall day!

Northland Needles show continued!

You've seen most of the pictures from the quilt show, but blogger was not playing nice and didn't let me finish my last post, so now you can see just a few more things!  There was a really nice exhibit of antique crazy quilts.  I think I could look at them all day long - so much detail and so many neat stitches.  DH even really enjoyed looking at all of the detail in them.

In addition to some great vendors and awesome quilts...I thought I would share a few men from the show!  This guy was super, super nice - his wife was in charge of this booth, and he was there part of the time.  He said that she doesn't let him drive her longarm at home very much, so he was having fun playing.  The second day he brought some additional tools for my DH to play with too.

 And, speaking of my husband...OH MY!!!  I've shown these socks before - this is the first show that we've taken them too.  These were really his idea - something different to add to the booth. So...he decided that he would be the sock model.  Uhhhh...not sure if this drew customers in, or chased them away!  Thankfully he did not keep this pose for long.  The good news is that we sold lots of socks (DH takes credit!) and have ordered more.

I stitched on this block on the way home, while I still had daylight.  I just finished it last night - there is a lot of stitching on this little thing!  

I finished all of the chain blocks and decided it's time to put it all on my design wall.  I wish there weren't so many empty spaces!  But, I'm trying to stitch a little every night, and eventually I WILL get these finished.  I did piece the border blocks as well, and have added them to the design wall.

 Of course, I have to show you how helpful Callie is!  I was trying to scan all of the Charming 3 blocks and she just couldn't help herself.  She is the nosiest thing!

It's been awhile now, but Renee Nanneman of Need'l Love was having a great sale.  She designed a couple of fabric lines with tiny little prints that work perfect for my jewelry, and since they were on sale, I decided I better stock up!  And while I was at it...these books were a great deal too.  Yep...it made for a fun mail day for me...

I have lots more to share, but once again...Blogger won't let me add more pictures!  Guess that means I better get back to work!

Have a great weekend!

Northland Needlers Quilt Show

We had a great time at the Northland Needlers show a few weeks ago.  You will be impressed - I actually took pictures!  They are low quality (I know you would expect no less of me!), but they are pictures.  I am having lots of computer troubles, so most of these pictures aren't edited and I'm having a hard time even getting them to load on here, so I apologize for that.

Here you can see our booth - the quilts from left to right are "Gathering Scraps" (the smaller version), "Dottie's Dashes", "Baskets in the Cabin", and "Size Does Matter".  You can see the small stained glass windows that Mom made - hanging in the hinged, wooden frame on the table.

 The quilts are "Size Does Matter" (again), "Ozzie's Baskets", and "Rally the Troops".  And there are the new socks.

 Here is a close up of Size Does Matter - the 9 patches finish at 1 1/2".  I hand quilted this one.

On the way to the show, I FINALLY sewed down the binding on this little quilt - about time, don't you think!?

 This stained glass piece was in a neighboring both - loved it.  He mainly sold featherweight machines.

Here are just a few quilts from the show.   This first quilt was so interesting - all about women't suffrage.  The pictures don't do it justice at all.

Well, it looks like Blogger is not going to let me add any more pictures, so I will end this blog post!  Technology...it's killing me!

Have a great day!