Poinsettia By Brenda Yirsa For Bigfork Bay Cotton Co.

This is one of the Poinsettia I made for Trunk Shows for Bigfork Bay Cotton Company. It is designed by Brenda Yirsa.

Shelly Diaz, my daughter, put the top together for me and I did the quilting. We made three of them. They are so much easier than they look, and everyone wants more bang and less work.

The batiks are from Batik Textiles and the thread I used is Aurifil 50 wt. I use Wonder Under Fusible Web by Pellon to fuse the applique down.

Meet Mr and Mrs Diaz

My daughter Michelle "Shelly" Paul became Mrs. Diaz when she married Anthony "Pony" Diaz on the 4th of July. It turned out to be the most beautiful day anyone could ever wish for. Even though the forecast was for rain all day, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Well, no black ones anyway. The temperature was in the 70's.

Everything about this wedding went perfectly. I've never seen an event go together so well. Of course, Shelly is a perfectionist and I doubt it ever occurred to her that it wouldn't go off without a flaw.

I love Pony and his family. We have been like one family for many years now and this just made it official. I wish Shelly and Pony a lifetime of love and joy.

Holly Moose by Bigfork Bay Cotton Company

Holly Moose is a new pattern from Bigfork Bay Cotton Company. It is taken from the artwork of Paris Bottman. This is one of my favorite designs from Paris. I believe Carol Rockwell designed the holly in the border which I really like. I couldn't wait for this design to come out. I of course need one for me.

The patterns are available at Bigfork Bay Cotton Company as well as the kits. If you get one of the kits be sure you get the Aurifil thread pack that goes with it. Once you use Aurifil you will never go back to any other thread.

I always use Pellon Fusible Web for my applique. They have recently come out with batting too! Cotton, wool, soy, bamboo, and poly. I can't wait to try their batting. Soy sounds very interesting to me.

By the way, if you are a Quilt Shop, and you would like to book the Trunk Show with all three of the New Paris Bottman designs, be sure you get in touch with Traci Suzanne Marvel at Bigfork Bay Cotton Co.

Peace for Bigfork Bay Cotton Company by Paris Bottman

When Bigfork Bay Cotton Company first came out with their amazing patterns, two years ago, and I started making their Trunk Shows for them I wondered how they were ever going to keep coming up with such wonderful fresh new ideas. I'm not wondering any more. The high quality of artistry just keeps coming with each new season.

This pattern, Peace, is designed by Paris Bottman. Her artwork, which is seen all over the World, transfers so well to quilts. I am so very excited to be making this quilt right now. Bigfork Bay Cotton Company has a total of three of Paris Bottman's patterns this Spring.

As always the kits as well as the patterns will be available at Bigfork Bay Cotton Co. For each of the kits there are also Aurifil thread packs that you can purchase. If you haven't tried Aurifil thread yet, you can't imagine what you are missing. It is the finest thread on the market. I will never use anything else.

New Puppy Toy Poodle Joey

I would like to introduce you to our newest member of the family, Joey. He is an apricot Toy Poodle. He is very small. My friend keeps telling me to put him next to something when I take his picture so everyone can see just how small he really is. As you can see, I haven't done that yet.

We bought him from acquaintances in Montana on Wednesday. Today, Saturday, he is really comfortable being here. He is really active and driving the German Shorthair, Daisy, crazy. It's too bad Buck, the lab, went camping with Randy last night because Buck seems to like him more than Daisy does.

Joey was named by my 7 year old Granddaughter Kenzie. She had been thinking of names for 3 weeks. Kenzie has named all the new animals of her other Grandparents and friends and even renamed some of the horses. Vegas is now Spirit for instance.

Kenzie wants to be a Vet when she grows up. A Rescue Vetrenarian she says. On a field trip last year they saw a baby lamb being born and she thought it was so gross. She told her mom that the farmer stuck his hand up the sheeps butt and pulled this lamb out and all the momma's guts came out too. Jenny tried numerous times to explain it to her but she still thought is was gross. So when Kenzie told me she was going to be a Vet I asked her how she was going to do with that since she would have to deliver lambs. She informed me that Vets don't deliver lambs, farmers do! She really is amazing with animals and I wouldn't be surprised at all if she doesn't indeed become a Vet.

Christmas Tree by Paris Bottmam for Bigfork Bay Cotton Co

Here it is! The first quilt I've done of the new designs for Spring 2009 by Bigfork Bay Cotton Company!

Christmas Tree is a wonderful design based on the art work of Paris Bottman. There are a couple more of her designs coming out too that are just as fabulous!

My daughter Shelly wants this quilt really bad. It is so amazing in real life and so very simple to make. I really mean that. I use Pellon Wonder Under so that I don't get heavy build up in the layers and it never leaves gummy stuff on my needle. To quilt it I use Aurifil Thread exclusively.

I can't wait for you to see all the new patterns coming out for Spring. Patterns and kits for Christmas Tree should be available around the second week of March. Call 1-888-245-5718 or order online at their website http://www.bigforkbaycottonco.com/. If you are really anxious I would pre-order just so you make sure you get yours right away.

Amanda's Flip Flop Quilt

This is the flip flop quilt I designed for my Niece Amanda. When we were talking she mentioned that she wanted one of my quilts. I asked her what she liked and the first words out of her mouth were, "flip flops!" Next came colors she liked and that is how I began. I knew what I wanted to do and how I wanted it to look so I started looking at patterns. None of them were exactly what I wanted so I took elements from the ones I liked and did this. The hardest part was drawing out a flip flop. I finally just put my foot on a piece of paper, drew around it, and went from there.
Jan Barnett did the quilting for me and she did an absolutely amazing job. Each block has different things like starfish, shells, and sand dollars and each flip flop is quilted differently including toes in one. The blue strips say things like, let's party and I love flip flops.
I know it's not the best photo but I was in a hurry to get it in the mail and no one was around to hold it for me. Isn't it funny how I can spend months waiting to finish it but once it's done I want to send it NOW!
I can't wait until she gets it. It should brighten up her cold Alaska day.