What to post??

I can't believe I have not posted in almost 2 months. Part of the problem is that I always worry about what to write. Oh well. No more . I will write about what is going on. yesterday we were supposed to go to Boston to see our son who moved there. But since it was supposed to snow, we decided it was not a good day to travel three hours up and back. So, what to do with time I didn't plan on having?

Well, since my fabric did not come from Northcott yet (I am designing a quilt with their Cambridge Square line and can't wait to start sewing!), I decided to "clean up". I have stuff in my tiny sewing area from many years ago- I still have a quilt magazine from 1983! So, I purged. It was actually great. Sometimes you need to simplify. Too much stuff can just be overwhelming and it feels great to open up some room. It is almost as if, by cleaning up the space, I have cleaned up some creative space internally as well.

Of course, I may have some adjusting to do. I am saver. I have clothes in my attic that I wore when I was 18 years old. My children are now all older than that! And my daughter, who is very small, can't wear any of them. Not only are they out of style, she is a different shape than I was. The same size, just different. So throwing out stuff is hard for me. But it is good. And I have made some space for new stuff! (just don't tell hubby that part!)

Off to make some more space...
kate

New stuff

Isn't it fun to work on new stuff? I often find myself abandoning an old project in favor of a new one. Does that mean I have quilt ADD? Often I have 2 or 3 or more projects in the works at once. I say that is because they are all in different stages of development and I can sew, or write or design depending on my mood. I think I have made some good excuses for the fact that I am fickle. A project that had me going great guns last week may get left behind for a new one this week. Luckily my quilt fickleness is not a statement about my whole life- I have been married 26 years (is that possible? Does that mean I am old?) and have worked as a nurse in home care for almost that long. Though, I have moved around to different agencies. Oh well. Nobody is perfect!

I leave you with a little taste of what I am currently working on- a quilt design for a shop hop here in CT. (Of course I was supposed to be working on finishing a tote bag pattern but the fabric from this quilt was calling me!)

Keep quilting! Kate

Quilt Market

Wow! What a week at Quilt Market. We have been back almost a week and I am still trying to catch up on my sleep! Market was fun, tiring and inspiring!

The first day of Market was kind of slow, steady but slow. Then each day it got busier. We met a whole bunch of really nice people- especially Jane Spolar from Quilt Poetry in the booth next to us and Lynda of Primitive Pieces in the booth behind us. And the ladies from Weeks Dye Works and..and...and.. the list goes on. What fun we had meeting new people and seeing old friends. Though we never got a chance to really walk around and see all the beautiful quilts.

We have lots of new ideas and lots of things to do in the next few weeks so stay tuned. We'll try to give a preview of work in progress as they develope.

After Market ended, we stayed an extra day and took a class at Festival. It was a fabric dyeing class- we dyed silk, and silk screened and painted.. it was so much fun. It was something neither Elizabeth or I had ever done so that was great to learn new techniques.I am still trying to decide what to do with my little pieces of dyed fabric- maybe a journal cover? I am a book freak- those who know me, know I like to carry some sort of journal with me all the time. Just in case I need to write down an idea, or sketch. Hmmm, I'll have to work on that.

Quilt Market

Greetings from Houston!
Yesterday was the first full day at Market- we taught a schoolhouse class called Wall hanging Wednesdays. That was a lot of fun- we talked about our wall hangings series and gave out some ideas for promoting classes. It was very well received- and we had standing room only in our classroom! What a hoot!

Then last night was Sample Spree. For those of you who have never been to Sample Spree- it is quite the experience! At 6pm- the lobby outside the ballroom was getting full and Sample Spree did not start until 8pm! When the doors open- what a rush! Stand back! We didn't stop for almost the whole two hours. In the past, sometimes we have gotten a chance to walk around and see other tables, but not last night.

On to Day 2- the booths open today. The sun is coming up and it looks to be another beautiful, sunny day here in Texas. If we get a chance to go see some of the quilts, we'll take some pictures.
Kate and Libby

Quilt Market

Quilt Market is just around the corner and Elizabeth and I are working like mad to get ready. We will be in booth 2213 this year. We have 4 new patterns and our new bumper sticker.
Got to go make samples for Sample Spree! Should be fun!

Bennington Quilt Fest

Elizabeth and I went to the Bennington Quilt Fest last weekend. We were vendors. We took off Friday from CT and stopped at one of our favorite shops, the Yankee Quilter. Then we traveled up thru CT, into Massachusetts and stopped at Talas. Talas is a quilt shop in North Adams, MA that we had heard a lot of good things about. What a place! Fabric everywhere! It was amazing. You want it, I will bet you can find it at Talas. Tons of fabric, books, stuff and staff that was very nice. Elizabeth spent some money!

Then it was on to the show! We set up Friday night and the show was Sat and Sun. Very nice quilts. Isn't it great to see what others are doing? It was so much fun for us as they gave every vendor the opportunity to pick a vendor favorite. How to pick? Our biggest fear was that Eliabeth and I would love 2 different quilts and never be able to agree on one! But we did. We had a hard time choosing but first we narrowed it down to 2 and then to 1. It was called Star Surprise II by Judith P. Smith of Pownal, VT. Great job Judith!

We also met so many nice people- our neighbor Shelly Holley of Log Cabin Quilting and her helper Kristine; Mary Jane Carey of the Christmas Shoppe; Sharon of Barnyard Quilting; Kate and Karen of Quilting in the Bershires; Becki from A Notion to Quilt (a great shop that I stopped at during my trip to Shelburne Falls!), Melanie from the Quiltfest Committee and so many others, including some really fun quilters!

Now we are home. As I was unpaking from Bennington this week- guess who decided to help? Lily of course! She just loves suitcases!

Until next time...

Kate

On board

Yeah, I have achieved blogging technology!  And yes, I will try to beat Kate's posting of our new  quilting sticker for your car.  It is not in the position I would have preferred but I dare not remove the college decals!  Okay it is sideways - not an indication as to my driving ability :)  

Better pic now!