Catching Up

Whew! It has been a busy week or so.

I flew to Minneapolis for Quilt Market. It is always a great time but lots of work. I used to have my own booth but I stopped when I had kids. I primarily go to make contacts, promote my stuff and talk about future projects with my publishers and fabric company. I am happy to say that I have lots of new things lined up for the future. Yes, we work years ahead. When I worked in the pharmaceutical industry, we would book appointments 3 years in advance! So, I guess you can say that I am used to it.

I saw a lot of old friends. Here's Dougal of the Freckles Collection from Alberta, Canada. We had a booth opposite of each other one year. Super nice lady with lots of cute stitchery designs.



Here's Martingale/That Patchwork Place's [my publisher] booth. Happy 30th birthday!



I met lots of new friends. Here's a great lady, Susan Breier , with her hubby, Jeff . She's got a terrific book coming later this year with Martingale. I got a sneak peak of it and she's got some nifty designs.




Lizzie Kate is my sister's fave cross stitch designer. I can see why. She's super nice and talented. She was at Market with some really adorable punch needle designs. Check them out at her web site www.lizziekate.com




New friends are to be made too. Here's a great couple from Patchwork Schoolhouse from Alberta Canada. Of course, I am partial to Canadians!



It is always exciting to see the latest and greatest products all in one place. There was the usual quilt pattern companies and fabric companies, a lot of wool suppliers [addictive!] and punch needle designs. This year though, I was only able to run throught the show because I was invited to the Better Homes & Gardens' Creative Circle of Excellence and had to stay longer for that instead. More about that in the next post.

Old Favourites

I am re-releasing my favourite block of the month designs. Each design will come in one complete package! The first one is ready for sale.

"Believe" was my first block of the month design. It is very whimsical and fun. The pieces are very easy to applique. I had Teresa Fusco, a professional quilter, quilt it for me. She did an amazing job and it was all done on her Pfaff machine!

Trunk Show

I gave a trunk show lecture this week at Kindred Quilts in Clinton. It was great fun. I talked about my quilts, my books and my fabric design. I even showed them my very first quilt! It was a great night and getting ready for the talk made me sit and think about how far I have come along in enjoying this craft.

Most of us in the quilt industry are gearing up for Quilt Market next week. It will be held in Minneapolis. I am soooo looking forward to the trip. I am invited to a Better Homes & Gardens Circle of Excellence Retreat right after the show. That should be great fun. I am in need of a creative jolt. My mind is in a bit of a jumble right now. When there's so much going on, my mind races a million miles a minute because my creative process involves visualizing everything out in my mind first.

Just Released!

I am so excited! My new book, "Row by Row Seasonal Quilts" has been released by Leisure Art [ www.leisurearts.com]. The cover is so bright and fun! The folks at Leisure Arts did a fab job. Thanks!

I self-published some of the designs when I first started my business and a couple of others are totally new. I hope you love the quilts.

I am taking a small break today. I say "small" because the big crunch is coming in the next couple of weeks as I gear up for the wholesale Quilt Market in Minneapolis later this month.

Minneapolis will be one of my "vacations" this year. I was invited to take part in the Better Homes and Gardens' American Patchwork & Quilting Circle of Excellence Retreat right after Quilt Market. FIVE days filled with creativity! Whoo! Hoo!

I will be giving a lecture at Kindred Quilts [www.kindredquilts.com] on Tuesday, May 9 at 7 p.m. Come and join me for a book signing and chat. It will be a fun night.