July 12, 2010 | English Paper Piecing, Giveaways, Lecien, MODA, Quilt Market, Quilt Nook Gal Designs | Comments [195]

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday start to your July! We had a great week of seeing family and friends and of course the usual Independence Day festivities!  I am back now and ready to introduce to you a couple of my new designs. These 2 pattens were just a couple of the pattern line I introduced at Spring Quilt Market in Minneapolis this past May.  I thought it appropriate to start with my little Welcome quilt as a beginning of the intros to the 6 patterns available.  I had a lot of fun designing this quilt to hang in our foyer to welcome my friends and family to our home! Here it is “Sugary Welcome”.

This little wall hanging is made up from a few fat quarters of Flower Sugar 2 by Lecien Co. and involves raw edged applique and a little foundation piecing.  I am not usually a fan of foundation piecing but when I was taught to use freezer paper as my foundation paper while working on my Dear Jane quilt, I totally changed my mind!  Stay tuned as in the next couple of weeks I will be posting a tutorial on how to use this method for the pineapple block.  I am also including this in the giveaway , which I will tell you more about at the end of this post!

The next quilt that I will introduce you to is “Irish Folk Dance”.  This quilt was a dream to make using Anna Maria Horner’s Little Folks Voile line.  Such soft fabric and has a great feel after it is washed too!  I used strip piecing for the chain block and added some blanket stitch applique with the petals.  Here are a couple of pics of this quilt:

I will introduce the other 4 quilts later but if you are interested in them please check them out here.

I have also been working on some new designs and some old projects.  With the heat setting in and us spending more time at the pool, I pulled out my hexies to work on.  Of course I decided I needed a new hexie project and so I grabbed some paper pieces and my Cosmo Cricket Early Bird fabric and away I went!

I am hoping to finish it up and will post pics when it is done- just a little project for some instant gratification!

I also have promised a post market/happy summertime giveaway…..are you ready?

These, are the goodies I am giving away

The first is a copy of Sugary Welcome by Quilt Nook Gal Designs and accompanying it will be the lovely stack of Flower Sugar 2 fat quarters!   The second is a stack of French General’s line Maison De Garance in fat eighths.  And third someone will get that cute little bundle of Mini Charms from Robert Kaufman- would be perfect for hexagons or a charm quilt! I believe it includes some of the new lines they are releasing including a few of Tufted Tweets!

So now you know what the giveaway’s are, now how to be entered!  There are 5 ways in which you can get an entry:

Simply leave me a comment and tell me what new lines of fabric you are looking forward to coming out.

Become a follower (see the google follower box on the left hand column) of my blog and let me know

Blog about the giveaway and let me know.

Retweet my blog tweet and let me know

Follow me on twitter and let me know (you can find me on twitter by clicking the twitter icon in the right hand colum)

So there you have it! I am excited to see who gets the goodies!  I will leave the giveaway open until Monday July 19th at which time I will tally up the entries and announce the winners! Good luck and thanks for visiting me! 

I hope you enjoyed the introductions and I will be back with more and some other things I am working on!

Until next time,

Cara

June 19, 2010 | Quilt Market, Uncategorized | Comments [1]

So last post I talked about setting up our first booth at International Spring Market in May, well now onto the other fun stuff that is market! The night before it opens, there is the fabulous event that is sample spree.  It is literally a mad dash to get the latest and greatest coming out.  People line up for hours prior and we were no exception! I waited as patiently as possible with some old and new friends.  One friend that was very new to us was  Annik – this was her first market so we were filling her in on our own experiences. Please pop over to Annik’s blog Mini Mushrooms and say hello- she makes the most fabulous  bags. It was great to meet you Annik!  Of course I also sat with my old Quilt Buddy Stefanie  and Jennifer.  It was so exciting to talk about what we wanted and where we were going once it was time.  I took this pic from our vantage point of one of the 3 lines….

….crazy right?  Once inside, I went for the Moda and Lecien Co. tables first and got most of what I was looking for!

Then after Sample Spree, we stopped in at the Fabric 2.0 party at the Hyatt Martini bar…pretty cool to meet some fellow bloggers IRL! Specifically I finally met John aka Quilt Dad and I also met Carla from The Scientific Seamtress and saw Angela again (she was there with her uber nice mom)-great to see you again Angela!  So great to meet so many of the faces behind some of my fave blogs!

The next day opened market. That in itself is a surreal experience! Having attended before I figured it would be old hat, but it is definitely different while showing your own work.  In the next week or so I will be introducing the new quilts that we showed in our booth and tell you a little bit about them, so please come back for that!  I lucked out and had fabulous people in the booths surrounding me.  To start with the beautiful ladies from Favorite Things- they were there all the way from Vancouver! Their booth was so cute.  Across from them I met the wonderful Darlene from Crow River Mercantile.  It was her first time as an exhibitor too so we had lots to share- she also had some pretty awesome wool BOM’s.  Next to Darlene and across from me was Rebecca Ruth-her and her husband were so fun.  And on the other side of me I met Tiffany and Roni from Tiny Seamstress Designs.  Tiffany’s bags are just to die for!  Unfortunatley I only had pics of Tiffany and Roni as I really did not get to take many pictures at market- just too busy! 

Aren’t they awesome?! We all had a lot of fun helping each other out, having a little drama {security?!} and meeting some fabulous people along the way.  I was sad to say goodbye to these fun ladies!  One of the coolest meeting to happen was when Mark Lipinski came down our row ( thanks to Rebecca)! I was actually on a small break and Stefanie asked him to wait until I got back….I guess he admired my Pocketful of Posie’s quilt… so once I came back and got to meet him we had our picture taken in front of said quilt.  I tell you, Mark is just hilarious in person! What a sweet guy he is too- he had us all in stitches and it was quite the excitement for us down in row 1!  If by chance you read this Mark, I thoroughly enjoyed meeting you and thanks for the picture!

Photo courtesy of Annik Miller/Lemonade Bags

Along the way I also met up with some other new bloggers and some I have met before! Unfortunately I did not carry around my camera {shame on me} but it still was great to meet Anne Suttton, Lynette Anderson, Brenda Riddle, Monica/Happy Zombie, Pam Kitty Morning, V and Company and Kate Spain.  I am so happy to have met or seen all of you and hope to see you again at Fall Market!In the end Market was an awesome experience and I had so much fun, learned a ton and met some great people- old and new!   One last picture from Minneapolis is of the goodies I brought away with me from Market:

I hope to have some new designs using some of these soon so be on the look out for it! Oh and next week I will be having a giveaway that will include some of those goodies AND do you see the 2 rulers in the bottom of the pic?  They are these very cool new tools that I will be blogging about in one of the next posts!  They are so gonna make life easier! Susan Brown from Simplicity Studios had a booth in row 1 with the rest of us too, and did an awesome demo using these that had me sold! 

As parting news, I also got accepted to be be in my second Doll Quilt swap!  This one proves to be just as cool as the last as people are already posting their ideas and some have already started on their quilts!  I am excited about this one as I too already have some good ideas for my partner!  If you would like to see what this is all about please click on the button below for some awesome inspiration! Definatley some really talented people in this one!!

 So that ends my market posts -in the next few posts I will be introducing the new patterns for Quilt Nook Gal Designs, talking about my trip to Lancaster’s Old Country Shop and of course talking about the awesome rulers that I got at market- oh and don’t forget, the post market giveaway will be announced in one of those posts!

Until Next time!

Cara

May 29, 2010 | Quilt Market, Uncategorized | Comments [3]

 Once we got there it is a fairly simple process of registering and then to set up the booth! That was a surreal experience as I have only seen pictures up until now of the convention hall before it is all primped and prettied.  This is what greeted me as I walked down our row to the booth.

(Photo Courtesy of Stefanie Roman/Little Lady Patchworks)

 After all of that, this is the way the booth looked by the time the doors opened on Friday morning! Bring on the quilters!

So there you have it- my first installment of our first market as an exhibitor! I will be back later to share some of the new quilts that Quilt Nook Gal Designs introduced in a little more detail and of course some more market wrap-up!

Stay tuned!

Cara

May 20, 2009 | Quilt Market, swap | No Comments

Wow! I guess I took a little hiatus! LOL! We had family vacations, illness and of course Spring Quilt Market- but I am back now and hope the coming months are going to have lots to blog about!

First, I am late in posting this, but I wanted to share the Siggy blocks that I sent of to Connie of Cootie Bug a few weeks back. I was in group 1 so I had to make 60 of these! Whew! Can’t wait now to get the blocks back and make my quilt! I know customs has given Connie some grief with receiving some blocks and I hope that she has now received them all!

In other news, last weekend was the Spring Quilt Market in Pittsburgh. My DH and I went fro a couple of days and made it back in time for our daughters ballet recital. It was a whirlwind but an amazing couple of days! Here is a sample of what we experienced….

We made it to sample spree (which is the lines of ladies from the top) and of course on the opening of the actual market we got to meet a plethora of quilty celebs! I will leave that for another post though and give some better pics! Lets just say that there is a lot of great things happening this summer in the industry!
Well, off to put supper on the table and get little ones to bed…my 5 year old graduates from pre kindergarten tomorrow- eeek! She is growing up too fast! I cannot believe she is entering kindergarten in the fall!… Well, more later!
Cara

November 15, 2008 | Fig Tree Quilts, Lil' Country Shoppe, Lynette Anderson, Melly and Me, Quilt Market, Red Geranium Cottage, Rosalie Quinlan Designs, Stitcher's Angel, Strip Club, The Quilt Buddy | No Comments

Whew! I have had a busy couple of weeks, as mentioned in my last post…I attended my first market then we had a retreat to attend and then unfortunately my littlest one has been sick so this is the first chance I have gotten to download allll those pics and share with you!

First, Market was a huge success! Stefanie and I met a ton of wonderful people, saw a ton of beautiful new fabrics and of course got the inside scoop of this wonderful industry. It was overwhelming but exciting and at times so daunting, but overall I am energized and excited about venturing into this amazing world!

The first night we attended Sample Spree which, to say the least, is crazy! We met some wonderful people in line from all over the country and of course met up with Sharon from Red Geranium Cottage and briefly met her friends Nancy and Karen. Then the next 2 days were spent looking through the booths and meeting some of our favorite designers- it was so hard to not be completely star struck, I tell you! Some of our fave’s were Joanna and Eric Figueroa of Fig Tree Quilts fame…one booth I really wanted to take a pic of( go here to check out Joanna’s pics) …both Joanna and her husband are wonderful and nice and I am so excited for her new line Patisserie to come out! It is gorgeous! We met Barb Adams and briefly Alma Allen of Blackbird Designs fame. Very beautiful booth that one an award for Best single booth. They also have a really awesome book coming out that had this amazing cross stitch pillow to make! You can go here to check out pics of their booth. We also met Cyndi Walker of Wishful Stitches as well- her patterns are just wonderful. Oh there were so many others and we enjoyed meeting every single one and to see all of their newest designs- very inspiring! Unfortunately I did not realize that I had only taken a couple of photos….Stefanie, I believe took more. I am hoping to be a little better about the camera next time around!

One of my faves to meet was Lynette Anderson and her son Eddie at her booth Lynette Anderson’s designs. She is the sweetest and talked with us a while even offering me some good tidbits of what it is like to design (thanks Lynette!). She is coming out with her first line of fabric in June from Henry Glass. Go to her blog and check out her sneak peaks- too cute! If you have not been working on her cute Noak’s Ark Stitchery, then pop over and check that out too! I am hoping to have some of her paterns and books on my Etsy shortly so keep checking back if any one is interested.

We also bumped into Melly and Rosie from Melly and Me and Rosalie Quinlan Designs fame on the shuttle to the convention center! They were so sweet and so we made a point of stopping by their cute booth and they obliged us with a photo op! Their designs are just darling!

Like I said, Market is a bag of feelings but mostly it shows a wonderful example of our industry and I can’t wait to be part of it someday!

Here is a picture of the strip club quilt that was done this weekend and Doris graciously presented it to those members that were at the retreat! WOW! I am not sure what it is called but I will edit when I find out! Doris made this one out of the jelly roll Harvest Home from Blackbird Designs! I cannot wait to make this one!

All in all we had a blast! I am so ready for next years to come already! Doris and Susan did a great job as usual! Unfortunately it did not seem to last long enough before Stefanie was jetting back to her coast : (….

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I also manged in the past couple of weeks to send off my Stitcher’s Angel present to fly across the big blue ocean to somewhere in Europe! I have included a sneak peak of what I made, just in case —- reads my blog….I cannot wait to hear she has received it and I hope she loves it!

Once I know she has received and opened it I will post the other pics! I had so much fun doing this and anxiously await my own Stitcher’s angel parcel to come! Thanks Helen for organizing this awesome swap!

Well, I have rambled on for too long and have to go hit the drawing board! Too many ideas in my head! LOL!

Enjoy your weekend!

November 1, 2008 | Quilt Market, Red Geranium Cottage, Stitcher's Angel, The Quilt Buddy | No Comments

Well, after a very busy couple of weeks I am finally back in the blogosphere! A lot has been happening and not a lot of work unfortunately- although I have managed to get my stitcher’s angel stuff done in the nick of time! They will be winging their way across the pond to their new home! As soon as I have my pics downloaded I will give a sneak of them and once they have arrived I will reveal who she is!

On a different note, I am not sure how many of you knew that I have started a business. I started making custom memory quilts and other types as well and it has been a lot of fun! Well, since I was doing a lot of designing for these quilts I realized that in reality that is where my heart is- design. So I have started working on a pattern line for The Quilt Nook and had a very exciting opportunity to go to Quilt Market in Houston last weekend. All I have to say is WOW! It is definitely an exciting event but at the same time, as it was my first, it was very overwhelming! I did however get to meet a lot of wonderful people, designers and others as well as be able to get a peak at the up and coming fabrics that are coming out. I have taken pictures but have not downloaded them as of yet so I will have to share them in my next post.

The best part was I brought along my bestest Quilt Buddy and I must say we had a blast! We were totally exhausted though as we covered the whole market in 2 days!!! Can you believe it! Let me tell you, if you have not ever been to one – it is HUGE! We did meet up with some fellow bloggers- Sharon ( of Red Geranium Cottage Fame) and Nancy (of Nancy no-blogs fame) and quite a few others! It definitely was a weekend to remember and let me tell you I came back totally inspired and with plenty of knowledge to help me with my new endeavor (thanks Doris and Lynette!).

I will leave you with pics of a beautiful fall mini quilt that Stefanie made for me…it goes perfect on my kitchen table in the sun room! Thanks Stef! More to come about market and all the goodies we found there!

More to follow…
Cara
P.S. Happy Halloween!