Fredericksburg

We arrived in Fredericksburg Wednesday evening.  We are here to do the Original Sewing and Quilt Expo this next week.  I am teaching two classes here – on Wednesday, I have an all day Advanced Foundation Piecing class.  We will be working on Ruby's Star and honing our foundation piecing skills.  I will be teaching ways to decipher a pattern for speed cutting, how to perfect curved piecing, getting perfect points and so much more.  I am really excited about this class.  Thursday evening I will be teaching a beginning Foundation Piecing class where we will learn the technique and the "why's" for each step.  Its a fun class and everyone should finish at least one of the Crazy Heart Blocks during class.  I believe this class is filled but if you are interested, check it out and see if they have a wait list.

I have been collecting Asian-themed fabrics for awhile so I am going to use this block as the center of a medallion quilt.  This block, as shown, measures 18" square when finished.  In my class, I also show how to combine several fabrics to use as just one piece in the heart so its great to use up those little tiny pieces of your favorite fabrics.

I will be going to Houston Quilt Market to demonstrate our product in the E.E. Schenck booth on Saturday, October 28th.  Be sure to let your favorite shops know that they can buy our patterns through E.E. Schenck.  Other distributors will be carrying our patterns soon.

We are now in the process of converting some Legit Kits patterns to our leave-in foundations.  This is a monumental task but also so much fun.  I am hoping to get our first conversion done before the holidays.  I will share as we progress.

Right now, Laura and I are working on all new samples for next year.  Lots of cutting, stitching and talking is going on here.  Plus, Grandma has had a chance to spend some good time with Benjamin.  He started kindergarten this year and it is amazing how "grown-up" he is and the conversations we have had with him.  Meanwhile, back at work, Laura and I are hoping to have a brand new booth when we open the year at Road to California.  We are making all new items or re-making and kitting old patterns made new again.  I have a large collection of Mariner's Compass Blocks that all finish the same size (20" right now; plus the same blocks that will measure 36" by January).  We are doing mix and match sets of blocks and borders to go with the compass blocks so you can make your own design.  Some of these blocks are available right now:  Dwen's Star, Laura's Star, Donald's Star and Nyla's Star.  Ruby's Star is the bigger size and we have about five more that are being tested right now.  Stay tuned to see the rest as they become available.

I am trying to fill orders from the website while we travel but I don't always have every item we offer; we just have so much room in the van.  I try to send a note to each buyer, letting them know the status of their order and that when the order ships, they will get an email with tracking information.  I apologize for the inconvenience but its the best I can do right now.  We are having a meeting this next week to try to figure out a better way of taking care of these orders when we are on the road so much.

I really hate to mention this, but you do realize that the holidays are rapidly approaching?  Its time to get those seasonal items out and refreshed for using or to get to stitching on them.  We have Christmas Tree Placemats, a Celestial Seasons Table Topper that can easily be converted to a tree skirt, a beautiful Christmas Cardinal Wallhanging and my grandkids' favorite, the Christmas Tree Table Topper that doubles as a checkerboard.  When they come to Grandma's and see that topper on the table, they know where the checkers are and can always get Grandpa to sit and play with them.

Until the next time, HAPPY QUILTING!!!