Perrito The Pug

Perrito at Market in the Batik Textile Booth.

Lee Anne, the owner of Batik Textiles http://www.batiktextiles.com/ asked me to make this 56"x66" pug quilt for her booth at Quilt Market in Houston using her absolutely lovely batiks. The pug was originally painted by David King http://www.pugcasso.com/.

Bigfork Bay Cotton Co. made a smaller pattern of this design that just came out at International Quilt Market along with several other wonderful new designs. Lee Anne loved this design and wanted me to make a larger version. I added borders which were designed by David at Bigfork Bay. He did such an amazing job of the graphics for the cover that I just used it for the border.

The new patterns from Bigfork Bay Cotton Co http://www.bigforkbaycottonco.com/ will be showing up on my blog as I make the trunk shows. Patterns and kits can be purchased from Bigfork Bay Cotton Co directly but you can ALWAYS ask your local quilt shop to get them for you! I know that Bighorn Quilts caries some of them at http://www.bighornquilts.com And by the way, the batiks from Batik Textiles are absolutely the most amazing batiks. If your shop isn't carrying them yet, tell them about them and have them look at the website. If I were a shop owner I would have the entire line.

I sound like a salesman, but everyone who knows me knows that I only promote things I love and that if I love something I think you need it too.

I had a great time making this quilt. I only wish the quilting showed up. Thanks to Traci Marvel at BBCC for all she does for me. I love you Traci!

Two More of Bigfork Bay Cotton Co's

Here are two more quilts I have done for Bigfork Bay Cotton Company. American Icon, the cowboy is pretty big. I was a little nervous about quilting it, but it wasn't hard at all. I posted a close-up of some of the quilting so you can see that I even quilted the eye, nose, eyebrow, and ear. I had to do the buttons, placket, and button holes too. It was a lot more fun than I thought it would be.

4 Ever Friends is the name of the quilt with the 4 horses. It was a lot smaller than the American Icon so I wasn't intimidated to do it at all.

I can't wait until the new line of patterns comes out at Market the end of this month. I am doing one for Batik Textiles that I can't wait to post on my blog but I can't post it until it premieres at Market in Houston.

Vince and Randy Mariners Game

We moved Randy's things to Washington for him the end of September and while we were there Randy got us all Mariners Baseball Tickets. It was the first Pro Baseball game for Shelly, Vince, and I. He and Alan had been to them before. Our friends, the Peranders, went with us. We were in row 14 right behind the 3rd base. It felt like being on the ground. We even did the WAVE during the game. I had my first Ball Park hot dog and being in Seattle I got a latte at the game too.

We had so much fun while we were at Randy's. He has such a nice house. It has plenty of room for me to go out for some of the wonderful sewing events that they have near him.

While we were there, Shelly, Randy, Vince and I went to the ocean and one day we spent walking around downtown Olympia. Randy took me to one of my favorite Quilt Shops, Bayside Quilting, where he bought me a logo sweatshirt, and we had lattes in a cafe on our walk. It was so much fun. We even went into Antique shops. Vince was a perfect child. Well, he was the perfect traveling child the whole trip.

I can't wait to go back. I guess I can probably wait until Spring though since it snowed hard while we went over the pass at Bozeman on the way home. I don't care to go over the passes in the winter. They just aren't fun.

Blue Paint

This is another quilt from Bigfork Bay Cotton Company. I love it. It's called Blue Paint. It's a pretty big quilt. The Artist who designed it is Brenda Yirsa. Debi Hubbs designed the quilts of the chickens, crows, and frogs, and Toni Whitney designed the horses in the previous blogs. Debi was kind enough to give me a comment on my last blog entry. I was so shocked and impressed. Thank you Debi. I love her website. You should check it out. http://www.artblooms.net/ It's so much fun. Be sure to go to About Debi. What a great personality.

More Quilts From Bigfork Bay Cotton Co

These are all of the quilts I finished this last week. I know... my camera doesn't do well with taking pics of quilts but you get the idea. I did two of the cow one that's called Chicken Date. These quilts are all by Bigfork Bay Cotton Company...website on the right. I use Aurifil thread to quilt and Quilters Dream Cotton Batting. Applique is done using Wonder Under by Pellon. I not only love making these quilts but I love working with such a great group of women. Someday I hope to meet them in person. God gave me a great gift when He got me this job.

I get two more this week. It's like Christmas when I get new patterns and kits. These quilts are all done with the kits from Bigfork Bay and I would recommend anyone making these to use their kits. The fabric is fabulous!

Winner of the Kiddy Parade

Kenzie's other Grandma, Charlie, decided to enter Kenzie in the Powell Kiddy Parade. She drove her truck with a big wagon hitched to it with all her stuffed horses inside the wagon, well, except her favorite which was in the back of the truck. Poor Grandma Charlie had to walk the whole way too with hardly any sleep and her bad knees. When Kenzie won first place Grandma Charlie said it was all worth it.

We had never seen the Powell Parade before so we stayed to see it after the Kiddy Parade. They have it every year during the fair. We were absolutely shocked at the amount of candy that was thrown to the children. When we were sitting by the curb waiting for the parade to start I noticed some children just down from us pulling out the plastic bags. I thought they were being either very optimistic or they were the kind of children who would bowl you over trying to get that one piece of candy in the street. They were neither. They just had parents who had been to the parade before. By the time the small parade was over, Kenzie's hat she is wearing was overflowing and she had given away at least that much to the smaller children around us who couldn't get it as fast. I do believe that a child can do better in 1/2 hour of the Powell Parade than 2 hours of trick or treating at Halloween.

We had a fun time. Thank you Grandma Charlie for entering Kenzie in the parade.

In Full Bloom for Jenny

I am going to get a different photo of this quilt. I don't know what my problem is lately with pictures. I'm going to blame the camera. It couldn't possibly be the lighting or me.

Anyway, a long time ago, at least a year, Jenny and Mike remodeled their living room. Since Jenny is short on decorating abilities, or so we think, her control freak sister Shelly and her control freak Mother took over and hung pictures. Knowing I was going to make this quilt, we left a big space on the wall for it to hang. I truly expected to get it done sooner but I did get the top finished in time for her birthday, thinking of course that I would have it quilted within a week. Just short of a month later I finally finished!

One of the reasons it took so long to make is because I made two at the same time. Being in a hurry to finish Jenny's in time for her birthday I stopped working on both at the same time and focused on hers. I have one block left to finish on my quilt before I put it together and quilt it. I have been using the Aurifil thread on my applique quilts but with all the colors in this quilt I went back to the mono filament thread. I sure like the way the Aurifil looks and quilts better. The mono filament looked like it was too bright and glowing. Maybe someday I'll have every color they make just so I can use it for a quilt like this!