HOME!

It was a crazy trip.  We went to Denver for a quilt show then drove on to Fredericksburg, Virginia for another quilt show.  It was awesome to be able to share it with Donald, Laura and Ben, since that is also where they live.  I had two great workshops at the quilt show; the first one was all day on Wednesday and was an Advanced Foundation Piecing class.  We started with a quick refresher by making the Geese In The Barn block.  Everyone finished this one quickly and learned how to work with our Leave-In Foundations.  Then we went on to work on the Ruby Star Quilt.  I had hoped we would finish a quarter of this quilt in class but by 3:00 pm, we were all getting a bit tired.  Most finished at least an eighth of the quilt so they know how it goes together.  They did very well.  I think what I learned is to give them the cutting instructions and labels when they sign up for the class so that would save a lot of time.  I definitely think it was wise to do the refresher block first though.  The other class was Thursday evening after the show closed.  It was a full class and they made the 14" Crazy Heart Block.  Everyone caught on quickly and they all finished at least one block.  Some of their blocks are shown below:

This was the first time Laura had been to one of our quilt shows.  I had to rely on her and Donald to help Bob get the booth set up on Wednesday while I was doing the workshop.  I should have known it would be in good hands; they did a wonderful job and I didn't have to change a thing.  And then, Laura came each day and did the demos and kept what little stock we had left on the shelves.  She cut and assembled fabric kits like crazy.  I just couldn't have done it without her.

We are busy getting new designs done, new samples made and playing with all the wonderful new fabrics that are coming in almost daily.  Laura is making a new sample of our Square In A Square Quilt.  We got new Kaffe Fassett fabrics in right before our show in Virginia so she wanted to make the quilt using the green fat quarter collection.  I can't wait to see it!

It took us five long days of driving to get home from Virginia and by the time we did get home, I knew I was coming down with something awful.  Sure enough, the first year in more than I can remember that we didn't get a flu shot and we got it!  It is a rough one and almost two weeks in and I still am not feeling all that well.  Unfortunately, we had to cancel our booth at PIQF right at the last minute.  I hate missing that show because its our "home" show and I have so many friends that we get to see there.  If you went there looking for us, I am so sorry.  There was no way I would have physically been able to do the show and if I could have found a way, it would not have been the right thing to do.  I don't wish this on anyone.   I have been plugging away at things though because orders really stacked up on us and I just can't work on anything else until all orders are shipped.  I can finally say that the last orders went out last week.  Yay!

Bob and I are heading to Houston for Quilt Market next week.  I will be doing a demo in E.E. Schenck's booth on Saturday.   If you have a quilt shop and will be attending Market, come by their booth in the afternoon.  I will be starting the demo at 2:00 pm until?  I have some freebies I will be giving out so come check us out.  (Or have your favorite shopkeeper/owner check us out if they will be attending.)  This will be a quick trip but I do plan to browse while there to check out fabrics for next year.

There is still time to get some goodies made before the holidays.  Our Border Print Placemats are super easy and fast and a great way to use up some of those holiday prints.  They don't even have to be border prints!  I am working on a set for myself right now; I will share in my next blog.

Kind of a gloomy day today with some soft rain so its a perfect day to do some quilting.  I am heading back into the studio to do just that!  Hope you find time to get some stitching done this week.  HAPPY QUILTING!!!