Sarah's June Quilt

Hello Pieceful Quilters:

Believe it or not, I actually got the top of a little quilt finished for Sarah Club sometime between my two weddings and a baby! It is still not quilted, but maybe this week I will get it done.

In case anyone missed the quilt from last month, I will show that first. The first one below is the antique quilt that we started with. It belongs to Deb, and it has been in her family for a long time.

Antique Broken Dishes Quilt

The pattern is sometimes called Broken Dishes, so we called our quilt Sarah's Broken Dishes:

Sarah's Broken Dishes - I think we captured the feeling of the original - don't you love it?
Kits are available on our website

This month we reproduced a quilt from my collection. The block, when it is pointing up, is called Little Pine Tree, but this quilter had her blocks pointing every which way. I think that when they point sideways they look like the Birds in the Air block, or maybe fishes. The fish thing didn't appeal to me, so I called it Birds in the Pines.

Carrie's Antique Quilt - Birds, Fishies, Pine Trees?

Sarah's Club Reproduction - Birds in the Pines
It is a bit smaller than the original at 23" x 19"!
Kits include Pattern, Backing and Binding for $29.99.

This four-patch on point is an antique doll quilt that I recently aquired. We are thinking about using it for one of our selections next session. We will be adding a daytime group for those of you that get nervous going out at night. Be sure to register on August 7th at our Quilt Show, Barbeque and Discount Registration Day!

Hope to see you all soon!

Carrie

Memories of the 4th

Hello Patriotic Quilters,

This weekend is the 4th of July, a time to celebrate America and to reflect on all the blessings that we have here in this great country.

My own reflections have to start with my dad. He is the most patriotic person I know, and he saw to it that his family celebrated the 4th in true American style. He would start the day by waking us up to a LOUD recording of Stars and Stripes Forever, followed by a bunch of other patriotic selections. After feeding us a wonderful brunch on the patio (Mom, like me, was not the head chef in our household), we would all pile into the car and head over to the Parade.

I grew up in Deerfield, which had a wonderful traditional parade. We had our spot - right in front of the Duraclean Store (it hasn't been that for years and years, but it will always be that to us). The store entrance was set into the building just enough to fit two lawn chairs and a cooler. The "sun-shy" would sit there, or we would all smush in if rain threatened. I only remember 1 complete rain-out in the 30 plus years that I attended. Back in the day, everyone knew my dad, and that spot was always open for us - more recently, we had to stop down there early in the morning to stake out our spot with old chairs and blankets. Deerfiend is not the sleepy little town I grew up in.

The parade was always magnificent - During the time I was growing up, Deerfield always hosted a Drum and Bugle competition the night before the parade, with groups from all over the country. The groups then appeared in the parade, so we got some amazing musical entertainment.

Remember when the kids used to wear clothes?

There was always a bunch of convertibles carrying the local politicians. We only liked the ones that threw out candy! The Shriners and Kiwanas (sp?) groups would have BIG men in tiny cars that looked like flying carpets or on tiny motorcycles. We often wondered how they got those guys in and out of those vehicles - mostly out... The lady that owned the local shape-up place always had a float full of fit people doing exercises - on hot days we wondered why they didn't keel over! We also wondered how the owner never seemed to get older or droopier - could it be she made a deal with the devil? Ok - I was already jealous of her figure by the time I was in High School. It's just not right!

After the parade we would head over to the local Country Club for great games, food and more food and finaly, the fireworks. That was back before people realized that goldfish had feelings, so they would release hundreds of them into the highly chlorinated pool for all of us kid to try and squish - I mean catch. Mom would hold a plastic bag full of fresh water for us to drop them into. By the end of the day, most of them were floaters - if it was hot we called them boil-in-bag fish. But at least one fish always survived in it's algi filled bowl - with little or no food - usually until the end of June of the following year. Goldfish are amazing little creatures, aren't they?

Besides the Goldfish Boil, there was the penny toss, races, pony rides and various other games we would play in order to win all kinds of cool platic junk. Remember the cheap paddleball games? After we lost the ball, dad kept the paddle in the linen closet to remind us to be good - and we never even considered reporting him for child abuse!

The club back then was awesome. I lived there in the summers. It was still a small town club - now it has moved and become pretty ritzy - I liked it better then. I believe the french fries there were probably what started me on the path to obesity - or it could be the beer in college. Hmmm - I guess we will never know for sure. Anyway, I digress.

The fireworks there were always the best - a perfect end to a perfect day. I remember watching them on a blanket on the driving range with my first summer love. He was so cute. I wonder what happened to him. Probably fat and bald - but then, so am I (fat that is).

My memories of the 4th will always remind me of what an awesome country we live in. Even though the 60's were not the best time in our history, we still managed to celebrate this great nation. I will never take this country for granted, for no matter what problems we may have at times, it is still the greatest nation on earth. This weekend on the 4th, try to forget your troubles, and remember how lucky we all are to be living here. I know I will!

Three Cheers for the Glorious 4th of July!

Carrie

Mystery Quilt Photos

Hello Pieceful Quilters,

I know I promised photos of the quilts my Mystery Group made - for those of you that don't do Facebook yet. So without further ado - here they are:

First, and far from the best, is mine. Not nearly enough contrast to show the pattern. Luckily the class listened to me better than I listened to myself:

Carrie's Quilt - Almost Done! Just need to finish the binding.


Marcelline - hers is actually done and waiting to be quilted. I will get her picture with it when she comes to pick it up. It is gorgeous! (Of course I am not laughing in the back there)


Mary L - liked it so much, she did a baby one! (No, she's not an over-acheiver)


Mary K - You can really see the pattern in this one - Good Job!

Mary L2 - Gosh we had a lot of Marys! Maybe that's why we had such a Mary time!
Don't you love the way that cheddar pops in this one?


Laura - aren't those colors fabulous? Great border treatment!


Geri - Picked fabrics based on one border, and didn't like it in the end. It took serious courage to scrap the original border and choose a different one. It was worth the risk - this border really frames it nicely. Beautiful!

Marilyn - Beautiful colors, stunning quilt. Bravo!

The pictures really tell the story. The "Mary" group did an amazing job at making my pattern look faboo! Thanks to all that participated, and - I PROMISE next time the pieces will be bigger and not as numerous! It sure is pretty, though! Good Job!

Happy Quilting!

Carrie

A Quilter is Born!

Dear Pieceful Quilters,

Please welcome Samantha Quinn Reed! She was born on Thursday, June 17th at 11:55 pm, weighing 7lbs, 5oz - 19" long. Mom, Dad and Sam are all doing well, and Grama is as proud as she can be! I was thrilled to be included in the delivery and to see my first grandchild born. What an amazing experience! Below is a pictorial visit with Sam as she came into the world. If you don't find other people's babies all that exciting - feel free to log off now. Otherwise, enjoy my little family:

Let's get this show on the road!

Just a few minutes old

Daddy, Mark, and Sam - bonding

He's not crying - there's something in his eyes - hahaha!


Happy Mom holding her little sweetheart


They will let anyone in here!
Proud Grampa, Kate & Sam, Jen & Mike Quinn, John Quinn
So neat to have the whole family there when she was done.


Day 2 - Isn't she sweet?

So tiny!

Mom and Daughter

Grampa's Girl

Getting dressed to go home

Not too excited about her new clothes!

It takes a Mechanical Engineer to figure out one of these things!

Do I look excited? Too bad Sam didn't echo my enthusiasm!

First car ride. Sleeping already, and they haven't even started the car!
What a good baby!

That's all for now. I have a ton of stuff to catch up on here at the shop. We are actually open this week, and there are several things going on that I have to prepare for! No rest....

Happy Quilting,

Grama Carrie

More from Quilt Market

Hello Pieceful Quilters,



Last week I was almost finished with my Blog entry about market when I was frozen out. Usually the Blog saves itself every few minutes, but not this time (of course). I lost at least an hour's worth of work. Anyway, it was too late to do more (I couldn't stay awake), so I didn't get back to re-doing the captions for the last few photos until yesterday! I would like to say I was super busy all week - but I am not sure what exactly I got done. I did get a lot of things started, though!



Anyway, I had a few more pictures and ideas from Market that I wanted to share with you. There was so much there that I don't think I have really digested all of it yet. Here are a few things that I thought would interest you:

I took this picture at the Bluehill booth. It is the Pink Star quilt that I mentioned in the last Blog post. The picture on the right is of the card from the line that the quilt inspired. This is just part of it! We ordered quite a few of the fabrics from the line. I think you are all going to like these ones. We got our first shipment of Blue Hill Fabrics in the shop this week, Colonial Prints. I am really pleased with the quality of the fabric - I can't wait until my line comes out! They are saying November or December, so I am just holding my breath until then. It is back up on their website, now, so you can go and take a look if you want - Rebecca's Madders. I noticed that they have the Little Pink Stars line up, too. While you are there, check out the House of Seven Gables fabric. I ordered some of that line, too.

This beauty is a reproduction of the quilt that Moda has based their next Collection for the Cause fabric on. The line is called Hope. I am not sure if we are going to do this quilt - it looks a wee bit difficult - but I had to buy most of the fabrics in this gorgeous line.

This is Renee Plains of Liberty Star with her new book from Kansas City Star. We picked up all of her new patterns, including one for the beautiful quilt you see on the bed behind her. We will plan to kit it soon, probably using the new line we just got in from Marcus Brothers, Nottingham Village. It is so pretty!

This is Carol Hopkins and a few of the beautiful quilts from her booth. The one in the corner there is also made with the Nottingham Village line. I wish I had time to make all the quilts I want to make!

Here we have Mary Koval in her booth with the wonderful Baltimore Album quilt that she based her newest line on. She is back with Windham, and they did a great job on her new line. We ordered the main panel and some of the coordinates. It should make a gorgeous "cheater" Baltimore Album quilt (my style!).

This is a Block of the Month quilt designed by Linda Hall of Primitive Pieces by Lynda. She has some beautiful quilt designs. I am hoping to talk one of my teachers into doing this one!

This is another Wool Block of the Month that Debbie liked. She may do it - who knows...

That's all I have from Market. At least, that's all I can remember right now. There are so many things running through my head - well, maybe I had better just get to work!

Happy Quilting - Carrie

Fun at Quilt Market

Hello Pieceful Quilters,

What a great time we had at Quilt Market! Five of us ended up going, and boy did we have fun! We left early on Wednesday morning so that we could stop at a few quilt shops on our way up. We visited three nice shops and got to Minneapolis just in time for dinner.

Theresa and I being silly pretending to be each other - I think she got me pretty well!

We started each with morning classes - mine were usually about merchandising, or something grown-up. The girls took some fucn classes to learn about new techniques, tools and other fun stuff.

Thursday is technically the day before market and they run a couple of great programs. From 10-6 they have Schoolhouse. It was crazy, fun and exhausting. The day is divided into 15 and 30 minute segments and you are given a list of about 15 different presentations to choose from in each period. You don't get the list until shortly before the Schoolhouse starts, so planning is rather rushed. The presentations vary from previews of upcoming fabric lines to demos of new products, books and patterns. It is hard to decide where to go, and sometimes the rooms are full when you get there, so you just go to something nearby and try to learn something new. It is a fantastic opportunity to learn all kinds of things and keep up with what's new. Here are a few pictures from some of the Schoolhouse presentations that I attended:

Edyta Sitar Shows one of her new quilts and a bag. Her new fabric line is really neat, some of it is batiks and part is reproduction. It is just Lovely!

Blue Hill Fabrics did two presentations - first there was one by Margo Krager who is coming out with a line of pinks. The quilt that inspired the line is pictured on the left. It was made by a friend of hers using scraps of double pinks from the 1800s. The stars are only 2 or 3" finished. It was absolutely gorgeous. Margo is a well known quilt historian and she also talked about how double pinks came about, and how they got their name. Margo's line was gorgeous, too, so naturally I had to order some.

The other presentation was about another new line which is based on wallpapers and other textiles from the House of the Seven Gables Historic Site. The lady with the poster is Anita Blackaby, Executive Director. She spoke about the history of the House and Nathanial Hawthorne. Then she talked about how they had chosen the patterns for the fabrics, and she even had some pieces of the original wallpaper. It was just fascinating! The fabric was pretty, too - and, yes, I did order some.

Renee Plains and Edie McGinness holding one of Renee's cute quilts. Renee's new book, A Bird in the Hand, is available at the shop. She had many of the quilts from that and she talked about how the book came about. She is so cute! We got some of her new patterns at Market

Renee Nanemann showed gorgeous quilts made from her upcoming book and fabric line. You may recognize local designer, Lynn Schmitt Cibulka holding a quilt that she designed using Renee's upcoming line. Isn't it pretty? Yes, I ordered some of this fabric - it was too hard to resist!

Jo Morton showed some of the quilts from her new book - we have a few copies left in the shop, but don't wait too long, the are going fast! The quilt on the top left is made from her newest line, Companions. Isn't it pretty?

These are just two of a large collection of feedsacks that were shown at one of the other demos that I went to. You would be amazed if you were to see all the different varietys.

This photo was taken at a Schoolhouse presentation that I attended that featured a new book called Tile Quilt Revival. The quilts in the demo were a little artsy fartsy for me, but it was fascinating, and I actually won a copy of the book. When I get a few minutes (don't hold your breath) I am going to see if I want to try to apply the technique to our more traditional types of quilts. It is a quilt form from the past, so I think it goes with our shop. Traditional tile quilts are reminiscent of Crazy quilts. Very interesting. Here is a traditional tile quilt made by Hattie Burdick about 1876. It's in the collection of the International Quilt Study Center:

For more about the book and tile quilting check out Barbara Brackman's Blog.

Kay Capps-Cross showing off one of her "interesting" quilts in her Schoolhouse Presentation

As some of you may know, Kay and I have known each other since we were both babies in the business. She is such a delightful and fun lady, which makes it much easier for me to overlook her strange fascination with Black & White quilts. Very stark and contemporary - not exactly my look! I have been working hard to bring her to the "dark side," after all, she is half way there with the black! I may have finally made some headway - her next book has a black and tan quilt, sort of a tribute to yours truly. I can't wait to see it. She gave me a few hints at market, but I will keep the secret until the book comes out in a couple of months.

The Pieceful Crew picnics on the floor while we wait to get into Sample Spree!

Sample Spree is one of the craziest things at market. Some of the vendors participate, but not all, and they offer their latest wares for you to purchase right there so that you can go home and get started on samples for your shop. We are usually able to pick up some fat quarter bundles of lines that we will be getting in the fall, or new patterns from some of our favorite designers in packages with one each of all their newest - instead of the usual minimum orders required to get the wholesale price. It was a great opportunity for the girls to pick up some stuff to try out for possible quilts or classes. Lots of fun!

Ok - More to come on the fun times we had at Quilt Market, and some of the great ideas we have for upcoming classes and events.

Stay Tuned!

Carrie