Guilty

Okay, I admit I must be one of the worst bloggers right now. I haven't blogged since the end of April. I've never gone this long without blogging. It's not that I didn't have anything to say, actually it's been quite the opposite. It's just that I've been quilting like a mad woman and haven't been spending any real quality time with my computer. No computer time, no blogging. I've been so lax in computer time that I'm actually checking my email on my ipod now. Sad, isn't it? Now that that's out of the way, let me tell you what I haven't been blogging about. May was a really busy month. Of course, I worked on several magazine pieces and made my deadlines. I also made several stash projects including another quillow, a table runner out of left over batiks, and a miniature quilt for an upcoming guild quilt challenge. Speaking of guild, I didn't even make it to the May meeting. I also worked on a few projects for my upcoming book -- I really need to buckle down and get serious about the projects. Of course, I also worked on research and writing for my book, too. I had an Orphan Quilt trunk show in May. It went well and the dinner beforehand was delicious. Of course, all of these activities were fitted around my day job at the public library, a few other part-time jobs, and my home responsibilities. The end of May brought some real heartache in my family, though, as we said good bye to our beloved canine companion, Poohka. This was really hard. He was a very special and unique Shih Tzu, with a smile and he even stomped his foot (yes, like a two year old's temper tantrum) when he didn't get what he wanted fast enough. His kidneys were failing rapidly and there wasn't anything more the vet could do. What hurt even more was the fact that my other furry pal, Gizmo has been absolutely bereft in the absence of his doggy brother. I think he's finally adjusting somewhat but he's very clingy and doesn't like me to leave him. Giz has even taken to sleeping on a pillow in my studio while I sew (he's never done this before). We've all had to make adjustments in our daily lives. It's ironic, really, when you realize how much your day revolves around a beloved pet only after he or she is gone. Smile on, Pookie, smile on.... June is turning out to be just as crazy as May was. In addition to trying to spend more time with Gizmo, I'm working on one project for the magazine and I just found out today that they accepted two more for a pre cut book. Whew -- I'd better start sewing faster. I had another program for the Sew and Sew Guild in Grove City recently too. Very nice group. I debuted my new program, "Fabric Dating Tips and Orphan Block Tricks." It was a fun evening. Next week I have a program for Country Charms Guild -- I'm doing the new one, and I am also doing a volunteer workshop on English paper piecing at the at the local senior center. Well, I see it's getting late so I'll stop here. Hopefully I'll get some photos up soon for your viewing pleasure. I want to show off some of the new Orphan Blocks that have come my way recently. Good Night! I need to go to bed so that I can get up early and QUILT!

The Challenge

I LOVE LOVE LOVE being a quilt designer! I especially like the challenge it represents. Here's one recent example: On Friday, a package of fabric from Benartex arrived even before I knew what I was doing with it! The editor of Quilter's World called and left a message that they wanted some changes to some designs that I had submitted for a new House of White Birches book. It always makes me happy when my designs are accepted, of course. So I checked my email to find out which designs were accepted and what the changes were. Boy was I surprised to see that tehy wanted a design that was originally throw sized to be queen sized. That's what the Benartex fabric was for. WHEW -- the deadline for the piece is about four weeks away. So I had to redesign the piece to make it queen sized as well as work within the amounts of fabric that were sent to me. This created a challenge because there were only three yards of white background fabric. OH NO! So I had to keep tweeking the design until it worked with the amount of fabric that I had. On top of that, I had to line up a machine quilter FAST who could put a rush on this quilt. CHECK! Last night I pieced all of the blocks and sewed them together. Today, I'm going to tackle the three borders, including a pieced middle border. If I can have it done in the next few days, Karen, the long arm quilter, can quilt it on Friday. Totally insane right????? Oh, almost forgot to mention that there's another quilt to be made for the same deadline, but the Balis won't arrive until May 8th or 10th (right off the rollers, they're so new!). Luckily, that piece will go together quickly. I love being a quilt designer -- it's never boring, it's challenging, AND I GET TO PLAY WITH FABRIC ALL OF THE TIME!

My Guild

Last night was our Anniversary Guild Meeting for my guild, Free Spirit Quilters. I must say that our president, Kim, really went all out! It was an Oriental-themed party complete with fans and chopsticks. Have you ever eaten birthday cake with chopsticks???? It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be -- the icing helped a lot. We had a discussion on different types of silk (with examples) as well as a selection of kimonos on display. Two members even gave a demo on tying scarves, which was very interesting.

We also had sew and tell, mostly oriental pieces. I even took a pice of sashiko and wouldn't you know it, but another member had the same preprinted panel too! Great minds think alike, I think.

Probably the most memorable event of the evening was when our president, Kim, came out of the restroom dressed in a blow up sumo costume, complete with the appropriate wig. OH MY!!!!!!!!! If I can scare up a photo of it, I'll post it on my blog. It was a real hoot.

Great meeting -- I don't know when I'd seen so many of the members come at the same time. It was nice to see.

JELLY ROLL RACE

A few blogs ago, I mentioned an upcoming jelly roll quilt race......Well, race day finally arrived --- yesterday!

Our group, "Pennsylvania" against the "Chicago" group.

The contestants:

The Pennsylvania group consisted of ten sewers: Mary Lee, Leslie, Lynn, Sherri, Jill, Shirley, Evie, Gaynel, Debbie, and me (Tricia).

The Chicago group consisted of eight sewers: Phyllis (sister of Mary Lee), Vera, Erusha, Babe, Maureen, Kathy, Pat and Gwen.

We began the race at 10 AM our time (9 AM Chicago time).

Gwen of the Chicago group was the first to finish at a little over 1/2 hour! WOW -- she stitched like greased lightning! Congratulations Gwen -- you are the Queen of Fast!



The second overall finisher was Vera, also from the Chicago group. Vera was visiting her daughter (married to Phyllis's son) and new grandbaby and is from Tula, Russia! Так держать, Vera!



The third finisher was none other than our very own Jill from the PA Team! WAHOO, JILL!



Here are the rest of the quilts!

Debbie's quilt (PA):


Pat's quilt (Chicago):


Shirley's quilt (PA):


Kathy's quilt (Chicago):


Gaynel's quilt (PA):


Babe's quilt (Chicago):



Evie's quilt (PA):


Lynn's quilt (PA):


My quilt (Tricia -- PA):


Phyllis's quilt (Chicago):


Mary Lee's quilt (PA):


Sherry's quilt (PA):


Leslie's quilt (PA):


Maureen's quilt (Chicago):



Here's a photo of the whole Chicago group with their quilts:



We didn't take a group photo of the PA group. :(


Sadly, Erusha of the Chicago team had some machine issues and wasn't able to finish her quilt until she went home in the evening. Sorry Erusha....we're glad you finished your top though!

I have to give a special high five to Debbie of the PA team -- she is a brand new quilter and this was her first quilt project. Talk about trial by fire! Well done, Debbie -- welcome aboard!



THE RESULTS:

Gwen of Chicago was the fastest individual, but PA won the award for fastest group finish.

Congrats to all of the racers......may all your dreams be quilted!!!

Oops!

Okay, okay I've been really remiss about blogging for a while. It's just there's been so much going on. Some good, and some not so good. So here's the dish:

I've been working a bit on projects for my upcoming book. I have three tops done already -- two are already sandwiched and ready to quilt, I just have to do it. And I've got the fabrics for another seven projects, thanks to a trip to Heirloom Quilting and Antiques in Brookville PA recently. (Heirloom is a great shop -- around 8000 bolts including batiks, 1800's reproductions, 1930's reproductions, basics, contemporary, wovens, novelty, kids/baby). Their prices are reasonable too. So, if you get to Brookville, PA, stop by and check them out!

I've just finished a couple of projects for Quilter's World magazine and am working on two new pieces -- a bag and a baby quilt. Riley Blake sent me the fabric for the baby quilt, a new collection called Vintage Baby -- very sweet in pink, yellow, blue, and green with some red accents, too. I'm looking forward to working with this collection! I just finished the bag prototype and now I'm ready to work with the actual fabrics -- blue batiks! These projects are for the December 2012...... I'm also working on some new designs for an upcoming House of White Birches book, too.

I did have some very disheartening news a few weeks ago, though. Northcott dropped my Cocktails at Eight fabric collection, but I'm shopping around for another fabric company, so stay tuned on this topic. It was a big let down after waiting for all of this time, but fabric companies are hurting right now due to the economy and the high price of cotton.

In the meantime, I finished my taxes AND have had three sick cats...... It's certainly not been boring around here.

I'm Baaaaa-aaaaaack!

Well, it seems I took a little hiatus from blogging this month. All of a sudden, it's March 20th. How did that happen?

The weather in my neck of the woods has been amazing so far this month. First, of course, we had a very mild winter, and now we've skipped spring and it's summer. Our temps have been 30-40 degrees warmer than average. I've been fighting the urge to dig out my warm weather clothes, but I think I'll have to succomb to the urge after all. We are expecting another day around 80 degrees tomorrow. You have to understand -- I LIVE IN NW PENNSYLVANIA! It usually snows here into April. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this weather but I do wonder what it's doing to the natural world. The trees think it's time to leaf. Flowers are blooming. I heard that people are starting to till their gardens -- not too mention taking of their snow tires. I'm still thinking that Mother Nature will probably have the last laugh and will hit us with a massive snowstorm when we're not looking.

Anyway, check out this photo -- it's a HUGE snapping turtle making its way across the backyard. We usually don't have "turtle crossing" until late April into May so it sure was a surprise to come home and see this big dude ambling across the yard.



The next day we had a little painted turtle making his crossing across the yard.

Oh, do you know what "peepers" are? They are tree frogs. They woke up a week or so agao and now they are serenading us, sometimes even in the daytime. They are really loud and we can even hear them inside the house.

Okay, Okay, on to the quilt stuff. Recently, my friend Melanie went on a quilt retreat and she made a gorgeous version of my quilt "Luscious" from the April 2012 issue of Quilter's World. Here's her version:



Isn't it lovely? I got to see it in person today when Melanie, my pal Leslie, and I met for lunch. It was a great time! Nothing like a three hour lunch spent gabbing and eating.

If you haven't checked out Quilter's World yet, please do -- it's a great magazine (I'm not just saying that because they publish my designs, either)!

I'm excited that my first fabric collection will be launching next month and then will be avialble in shops later this fall. It's called COCKTAILS AT EIGHT and has a fun and flrty 50's feel. I hope you'll love it as much as I do! I'm working on a few new ideas for Northcott right now, too. So stay tuned.....

A NEW ADVENTURE

As if writing a new book and keeping up with my magazine pieces isn't enough -- now I'm adding teaching quilting eclasses on www.craftartedu.com too!

Follow these links to check out my classes:

LOG CABIN TABLE RUNNER CLASS

FREE QUILTING BASICS TUTORIAL

Come play with me -- let's make a project together!!!