We’re ready for International Quilt market in Portland, Oregon!

We’ll be out of the office for a few days and will check in whenever we get some down time.

See you again on the 21st!

Hugs!

Barb

It’s shipped!

Our newest group of fabrics is on the way to a store near you!
Be sure to visit your favorite local quilt shop or online store soon to get yours!

And if you need the new pattern …

You know where to get that too!

Hope you have as much fun creating with it as Mary and I have!
Barb

Our new “Giggles” fabric swatches are on the website!

You can’t find them anywhere else.

Moda will not even be making them public for another 5 days, but we got special permission to show them NOW!

Visit our website here to see all the new yummies.

Portland only 4 days away now!

Barb

The new free pattern for “Shades Of Black” is on our website now!
It’s called “Little Black Quilt” …

With every fabric group we offer a new free pattern! This one is super easy and goes together quickly.

To get your copy, simply click on the “patterns” button in the upper left box on this screen. When you get the drop down menu, click on “free patterns” then print and enjoy!

Happy Quilting!
Barb

To go along with the new wave of  “modern” quilting, Moda has come up with a new booth concept for the designers!

We got an email along with this sketch awhile back, asking if we would like to participate in this new booth design area …

We said yes! This should be really fun sharing a space with others!

We will be in booth #702 along with 11 of our designer friends …

Jan Patek
Deb Strain
Kathy Schmitz
French General
Basic Grey
Pat Sloan
Minick and Simpson
Bunny Hill
Sweetwater
American Jane
V & Co

Stop by to tell us what you think and let us know how you like the new hangout! The other traditional booths will still be around the Moda area, we are just the new test dummies.

Don’t worry, I will still take plenty of pictures!

Reporting from Quilt Market in 7 very short days …

Barb

Well it’s frozen over!
Mary has decided to learn to knit!

She worked on several projects at our recent Quilt Camp with the girls …

I thought at first that she just wanted to buy all the cute supplies, but she is actually using them.

For now she’s only doing washcloths …

And hot pads …

But this a a huge development and she has more yarn!

Soon she will be designing troll doll outfits like the ones I knit …

Talent runs rampant … LOL!

Barb

Thanks for all the support for Vickie’s new book!

So without further delay the lucky winner is …

Susan!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              I really like the way you utilized some of your scraps for this block – my goal is to use some of mine up, but I still want to make my quilts appealing – can’t wait to try this one.

I will be contacting the winner by email shortly.

Thanks again for joining in on the fun!

Barb

PS ~ Sorry for not getting this announced last night, I got too involved with Dancing With The Stars! Go Kellie and Derek!

We have a project in the newest issue of Quilts and More!

It’s called Zippity Duo and is on pages 52 thru 55.

The first one is made using our “Good Morning” fabrics and the second Mary made with some leftover blocks. The handles are made from lengths of zipper trim sewn together side to side.

It’s a simple project that doesn’t take long to make.

I actually use one every morning on my daily walk. I stuff all my essentials like house keys, dog poop bags, cell phone, and my bottle of water inside. It comes in handy and I sling it across my chest so my hands are free!

A very stylish addition to my grubby t shirt and shorts!

Barb

Mary and I have a group of friends that we have been quilting with for over 19 years. We meet twice every year in April and again in August.  We all escape from our families to the tall pines and enjoy an entire weekend of quilting, eating, talking and laughing.

This year we decided to have a group activity and try the “jelly roll race” that has been sweeping the quilting community by storm. Mary and I provided the jelly rolls and our enthusiastic quilting friends were ready to sew. On your mark … get set …. GO!

Some were nervous and worried about bathroom breaks and some embraced the challenge! All were ready to compete.

The first completed jelly roll quilt was sewn by Kathy and clocked in at 1 hour 29 minutes and 40 seconds …

We all sort of knew that Kathy would be the winner. She usually completes the most projects at camp.

Second place goes to Melony! She clocked in at 1 hour 33 minutes and 38 seconds …

This was a shocker! Lets say that Melony isn’t usually the fastest seamstress in the bunch.

Third place went to Carol! She clocked in at 1 hour 36 minutes and 52 seconds.

It was also Carol’s Birthday!

At 1 hour 43 minutes and 18 seconds Rachel found her ends …

This isn’t looking good for Rachel! That’s Melony’s finished quilt in the background!

4th place went to Sue …

She was the silent one who came in under the radar.

5th place went to Nancy, the new girl. Her time was 2 hours 0 minutes and 23 seconds …

She sews really well for a tall person. That’s an inside joke!

Mary got 6th place. Her time was 2 hours 20 minutes and 53 seconds.

I was right behind her for 7th place at 2 hours 40 minutes and 2 seconds. I could have beaten her if I wasn’t taking all the pictures.

8th place goes to Diana!

Her time was 3 hours 0 minutes and 9 seconds. She also got the award for the messiest sewing area! Back up and take a look at the floor and surrounding area in Kathy’s first place picture to see what I mean.

9th place went to Terry. Her time was 3 hours 24 minutes and 56 seconds.

Terry is also our sister. She is between Mary and I in the birth order. She is also Mom’s favorite. She is going to hate me for saying that.

10th place went to Cela …

Our bathroom break worrier. She didn’t take a drink the whole race. Her time was 4 hours 10 minutes and 46 seconds.

And last but not least … Rachel!

With a time of 4 hours 38 minutes and 26 seconds! It’s now dark outside. We took a dinner break and re started the clock.

Thanks girls for joining in on all the fun! I highly recommend doing this with your friends. We laughed and had a great time!

Some of us even fashioned a few left over strips into headbands. Hey … I don’t think there were supposed to be any leftover strips!

Vroom!

Barb

Welcome!
Today we are celebrating the release of a new book by our friend Vicki Eapen!
This is her first book for Martingale and we couldn’t be happier for her!

The new book is called …

As part of the book tour we were asked to make a block from the new book. I chose …

This looks like a simple block and I don’t think it will take much time to complete. I’ve got my pieces cut and I’m ready to go!

Almost finished …

Wa La!

What a fun block! It went together very quickly. I veered from the instructions and made my block a bit scrappy from pieces found in my scrap pile. You could make your block even scrappier!

To see more blocks from the book, visit the other blogs on the tour. Here is the entire schedule …

4/20 Vickie Eapen www.spunsugarquilt.com

4/21  Me & My Sister http://www.meandmysisterdesigns.com/blog/

4/22  Natalia Bonner http://www.pieceandquilt.com

4/23  Kathy Brown http://theteacherspet.typepad.com/theteacherspet/

4/24  Jen W http://misspunkiepie.blogspot.com/

4/25  Carol Lewis http://carolscraftblog.blogspot.com/

4/26  A Spoonful of Sugar http://www.aspoonfulofsugardesigns.com/

4/27 Kate Spain http://katespaindesigns.blogspot.com/

4/28 Stefanie R. http://littleladypatchwork.blogspot.com

4/29 Stitch This! Martingale’s blog http://blog.shopmartingale.com/

Make sure to enter on each stop of the tour for a chance to win a book from Vickie.

Vicki was nice enough to send us an autographed copy!

You could get one too! Simply leave a comment below. The winner will be chosen sometime on Tuesday April 30th.

I dug this photo of Vickie up from some of my old market photos. She is the one in the middle, always smiling! …

Congratulations on the new book Vickie! It’s a winner.

And special thanks for using several of our past fabric groups in this quilt featured in the book too! It’s called Stretched Stars …

Good luck to all!

Barb