We just finished a trip of our last three quilt shows for the year. We drove to Madison, Wisconsin for the "Great Wisconsin Quilt Show" and it was amazing! We then went to Oaks, Pennsylvania for the Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza...another great show. Then it was on to Fredericksburg, Virginia for the Original Sewing and Quilt Show, another amazing show! We love this show, not only for the wonderful friends we have made here, but because our kids live here and its an excuse to visit with them. They help us with our production and they actually get to help us at the show and meet our fabulous customers. Its one of my favorite shows. (And I get to spend time with my youngest grandson!)
We met some of our followers on TikTok and had some of my students from the workshops we held here in Fredericksburg last year, share their completed projects.
We are so delighted to see that Mary Syer won a Blue Ribbon for her Miniature Pineapple Quilt. Way to go Mary!
I have been working on the "Family of Stars" quilt and am happy to say that all nine blocks are designed and made and patterns written. I am putting the quilt together right now and hope to have it done before we leave Virginia. We will be posting pictures of the completed quilt and have pre-sign-ups for the Block of the Month program starting sometime within the next month. These stars will be available as a BOM program with or without the fabric kit, as a complete pattern and/or fabric kit or as individual blocks with mix and match borders for making table toppers or works of art. Each block will have a detailed video on our website to guide you through the process, making it much more fun and easy to understand. This has been a two year love affair for me and I hope you like it half as much as I do. I am thinking we will be offering the fabric kits in two completely different colorways. I have made this first one using bright colors that pop on the black background and is stunning; however, I know a lot of quilters do not like to sew with a lot of black fabric (need a lot of light for that!) so we will be doing it again in pastels with a light background.
Besides these quilt shows on this trip, we have put together our show schedule for next year. It will be a busy year, with workshops and trunk shows in between. I still have a few dates open for guild presentations and workshops. If you belong to a guild and are interested in having me do a trunk show/presentation and/or a workshop, check my schedule on the website and if I am doing a show in your area or pass through your area on my way to or from a show, check to see if we have time and the travel charges will be minimal. Our schedule will be up to date later today so check it out.
Some "Behind the Scenes" shots setting up the booth:
Laura is doing "Lives" on TikTok (phasing that out), Instagram and YouTube. If you want to see what she is doing, go to our website and scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the different social media icons and follow the instructions for signing up to get a notification of when she is going LIVE. We hope to get a regular schedule for these sew-alongs and will post that on our website.
Our little part of the world is very busy right now. We stayed here in Fredericksburg with Donald and Laura after the show so that we can have a birthday celebration with Donald next Tuesday but also to attend his retirement ceremony next Friday after 22 years in the United States Air Force. We are so proud of all that he has achieved over all of these years. He was a very proud "nerd" at a young age; beginning college when he was 12. That was real life-changing for all three of us! He had his own computer business by the time he was 14 and was doing well and then 9/11 happened. He enlisted in the Air Force less than a year later and to our surprise, announced he was going to try to make it into the Special Forces. Our little "nerd" who never played sports, other than Tai Kwan Do, wanted to be a rugged, special forces guy. He made it! Served four tours in Afghanistan, won two Bronze Stars and only after fulfilling the "adrenaline junkie" desire, did he get more into the computer side of things, which led him here to Washington, D.C. We couldn't be prouder and thank you for letting me do a little Mom-bragging here today.
With all of that being said, I do want to take a minute to talk about the devastation that Hurricane Helene has caused to so many people and communities so close to us here in Virginia. Places we have visited and actually thought about retiring to have been decimated. I can't even imagine how bad it is and these people and places have been weighing heavy on my mind and my heart. They need our prayers and any help we can give, no matter how small. It all helps.
In the meantime, sewing keeps me sane and feeds my passion. I hope it does the same for you. Whatever your motivation, HAPPY QUILTING!!!