Jillily Studio

HG WINNER

2011-11-29T12:37:00.001-07:00

The winner of the Henry Glass blog hop has been announced! The lucky gal is Julie Little from Roy, Utah.

When notified that she was the winner, Julie said, "I can't believe I won. I don't ever win. I am so excited!"

Julie will be getting the GRAND PRIZE package real soon. I am sending it off today along with my special designer's prize. Then she will get a prize from each of the other HG designers in the next week. What fun! That's a good way to start off a holiday season, don't you think?

Be sure to join us again next year for the HG blog hop, and follow along to see what else we are up to.

I will be back in a few days with some new stuff for you to see. Now I need to go ship!
Congratulations, Julie!

Prize Photos

2011-11-25T18:07:00.000-07:00

Guess what I got! The HUGE box of fabric for the Grand Prize from Henry Glass arrived at my house so I could fold it and fluff it and get it ready to be sent out to the winner.

That's a lot of fabric, folks! Each of those is a one yard cut, so there are over 100 yards of fabric!!!!

(And aren't those wire baskets great!! So cute and so ORGANIZED!)
There are SEVEN lines of fabric here, so it is just a sampling of all the great Henry Glass lines. There are so many more. You should check them all out on the Henry Glass site.

Remember, if you want to enter to win, visit all the blogs on the hop. Details here for those of you who missed it. There is still time to join us.

Good Luck, and I hope you had a beautiful Thanksgiving!!!

WINNER!

2011-11-21T08:47:00.001-07:00

I have a winner! The winner of the drawing here on my blog is:

POTPOURRI

from Canada

If that is you, email me your address so I can send you this fabric bundle!

(jill@jillilystudio.com)

Now I will go over to facebook and pick a winner there.
The Grand Prize at Henry Glass is still open for entries until the 26th. Make sure you enter at the Henry Glass blog.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the blog hop and to all my followers for your kind comments and spending some time here with me. Keep in touch and I will try to continue to inspire you. This HG blog hop is starting to be a great tradition. Make sure you join us again next year!

Jolly Holiday Feast

2011-11-19T22:01:00.000-07:00

Each day of this Jolly Holiday Blog Party, I have given you the links to visit the Henry Glass designers. Scroll back through my posts for the past week and visit the ones you missed. Get to know the designers and collect the secret words. Then enter to win.

You know that I really want one of my followers to win the GRAND PRIZE at the Henry Glass blog hop, so here's a little song I wrote to expressing my feelings. (Some secrets are better when shared!) Oh, and you have to sing along. . .

Jolly Holiday Feast (Sung to the tune of "We Wish You A Merry Christmas")

We wish you a roasted turkey

Apple cider and Christmas pudding.

We wish that you’ll have some egg nog

And a happy cured ham.

Good tidings to you, with hot chocolate sweet.

We wish you some Christmas cookies

And gingerbread to eat.

Now bring us some pie, for my sake,

(But don’t bother with the fruitcake.)

A hot buttered rum sounds toasty

To warm you right up!

We won’t go without our candy canes,

Cranberry sauce and stuffing,

Butter tarts and mashed potatoes –

Now that will be yumm!

We wish you a Jolly Holiday

From the Henry Glass designers.

We wish you a tasty dinner

And we hope you WIN!

Now, you know what to do with all those secret words.... and here's the link to the Henry Glass site. You have until November 26 to leave your comment (with all those words in it) to win the GRAND PRIZE.

But here on my site, you can win right away!

See that bundle of yummy "Sorbet Garden" fat quarters? That can be yours, and you have TWO chances to win:

1. Sign up to "follow" my blog, and make a comment on Jolly Holiday -Day 1.
2. Go to the Jillily Studio page on Facebook, and "like" Jillily Studio.

In both places you have a good chance to win! And then you will be all signed up for the next time I have a prize drawing.

Day 7 --Jolly Holiday or " I Knead to Bake..."

2011-11-19T00:01:00.003-07:00

It's the last day of the Blog party, and I told you I would tell you about my Zupfe bread. (I'm not sure how to spell it, maybe someone from Switzerland can help us out.) You pronounce it Zoop-fa.

This is the yummiest bread! Before I share the recipe, I need to remind you to finish the Jolly Holiday Party! Today is the last day, and we are visiting two HG designers. Chelsea at Pink Fig has some great children's patterns and lots of fun stuff.


Chelsea Anderson Pink Fig Designs

And Linda Lum DeBono is just full of fun ideas! Linda has been the gal in charge of our hop and has done a lot of work coordinating and planning and arranging. Please make sure she knows how much you appreciate it, because it is not easy getting this many creative, strong women to go in the same direction! Thanks so much, Linda!

Now on to the bread. Here's the list of ingredients:

3 tablespoons of yeast
1/2 cup warm water

9 eggs
1 1/2 tablespoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 cubes butter
2 cups milk
12 cups flour (approx.)

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Set aside to raise. Beat the eggs. Add the salt and sugar and mix in. Melt the butter, add the milk and warm it up a bit. Now start adding the flour to the egg mixture. I do this in my mixer with the bread hook on. Add just 2 cups to start with, then add the yeast mixture. Alternate adding the rest of the flour and the milk/butter liquid. I almost never use exactly 12 cups of flour, that is an approximation. Add flour until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl and is not too sticky. You don't want to add too much or it will be tough and dry.

If you can't fit all of that in your mixer, (like I used to do before I got a new one) just turn it out on a floured counter and knead it in by hand. This part is really fun. I can fit it all in my mixer now, but I still like to finish it off by hand, to make sure it is juuuuust right. (The Goldilocks phenomenon.)

When you feel the dough stretching and pulling back, you know you have the gluten going. Knead it until it is smooth and shiny, and elastic-y. (How's that for technical writing?)

Place the dough in a large oiled bowl. Cover with oiled plastic wrap or a damp flour-sack towel. Place it in a warm area and let it raise until double in size.

This is when it has raised in my gi-normous (16" across) stainless bowl. Then I punch it down. (I don't have a picture of that, because my hands were all oily.) Place it in the fridge to cool down. Check on it, you will probably have to punch it down again. Keep it covered with the oiled plastic wrap. It is best left several hours or overnight, so that it is nice and cold, then it is easy to roll out.

Cut the dough in half to make 2 loaves. These will be really large, and sometimes they are hard to fit on a baking sheet, so I usually cut into 3 loaves. At Christmas I give loaves to my neighbors, so I make even smaller loaves or I would never get done! Cut each loaf of dough in half to make two chunks of dough. Roll them out into long ropes, like you used to do with Playdoh. (I know you did.) Make the ropes the same length and same diameter all along.

Place one rope on top of the other making a "t".

Grab the ends of the side-to-side rope, one end in each hand. Throw them over the center up-and-down rope with your right hand going over your left hand.

Now step to the left side in front of the rope on the left. Grab the two ends on ropes on either side of this new center, and throw those ropes over, left over right.

Move back to the center and go right over left again. Continue moving to left, and center, and throwing right over left and then left over right. (I really should have made a video! What was I thinking?)

When you get to the end of your rope, (HA!) tuck the ends under and press them together so they don't show, and look pretty. Hummm, I think there is a life metaphor in there somewhere....

Place on a greased baking sheet. Roll and braid the other one and place next to it, leaving space between the loaves for raising. Cover with oiled plastic wrap and set them again in a warm place. Let them raise until they are double in bulk. Pre-heat your oven to 350. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes until golden brown.

Mine got a little too brown this time, but it is still within the normal range. As soon as you bring them out of the oven, brush with butter all over the top and sides. This keeps it nice and soft, and of course makes it yummy! (Interesting observation: Fat makes things yummy, and yummy makes things fat. What goes around comes around or becomes a round, in this case.)

Now slice up that bread and eat it! Just wonderfully rich and eggy and the texture is super. You are going to love this. This bread makes the best leftover sandwiches and toast and is great even plain!

Now I know this has been a long post, so thanks for sticking with me.

Remember that today is the last day of the blog hop, so go collect the last of those secret words at each designer's place. I will have a special help here for you tomorrow, so be sure to check in.

And don't forget to enter to win my fabric bundle by commenting on my Day 1 post and becoming a "follower!"

Day 6 -- Jolly Holiday Party

2011-11-18T04:00:00.001-07:00

OK, today I made Zupfe bread, and I want to share the recipe with you, but it is in the oven, and I won't have time to put in all the pictures today, so I will post all about it tomorrow. Make sure you come back to see this yummy bread. (It has been my experience that all quilters love to eat, therefore, it is completely appropriate for a quilting blog.)

Meanwhile, it is still a Henry Glass party, so today you get to visit THREE designers!

First there's Dana of Lazy Daisy Cottage. She is so much fun! You will be inspired by her, I'm sure. We have had some wacky times together at Quilt Market! I'll have to tell you about it some time.

Next there's Renae Allen. I haven't met Renae yet (at least not that I recall, but it is getting harder to recall because there is only so much storage left) but I know she is an awesome designer, so check out what she has to share.

Last today, we have the Buggy Barn gals, Janet and Pam. Of course you know who they are, they are practically legends in the quilt world! So hop on over and see what's up at the barn.

OK, that all here today. Off you go to see all my design friends, but be sure to come back tomorrow for some bread!

Day 5 -- Jolly Holiday Party

2011-11-17T04:00:00.001-07:00

Well, that sure was a fun day, wasn't it! Now we are on to the next group of HG designers:

Brenda Pinnick is an awesome artist who is also very generous with her talents. She helped the rest of us with all the photos and files to post so you would know where to go on this blog hop. Thanks, Brenda! Hop on over to see her.

Leanne of The Whole Country Caboodle is also posting today, and you for sure won't want to miss her! She is honestly one of the nicest quilters I know! And very talented.

I count myself very blessed to be able to see my designer friends at Market and quilting events. It makes this business all the more fun.
Have a good day today, we are almost to the end of the week! (Remember to catch all those secret words!)

Day 4-- Jolly Holiday Party hop!

2011-11-16T04:00:00.000-07:00

Today I started to clean up my studio. What a mess. I just don't have enough surface area. So every surface is covered with things to do! (And since the floor is a horizontal surface, it is also covered.) It is to the point now that I have to stop do-ing and get organized!
I took it all apart to go to Market, and then I come home from Market with all kinds of stuff that needs to be done. Write this, edit that, make this, contact her, enter these, deposit that, file these, research that, sew this, design that, call him, check on this....etc. (You get the idea.)

Do you ever get backed up like that? I think it is part of being a creative person, at least that is the excuse I am using today. Actually, it is really a lack of time.... and surface area.

Well, let's not worry about that any more, we have some blog hopping to do!
Today you get to visit my dear friend Barbara of Quilt Soup. She is such a talented designer, I know you will love meeting her! She is sure to have something special cooked up for you.

Then there is Anni Downs of Hatched and Patched. She is from Down Under, so you know this will be fun! While we are shivering here, she is basking in the summer sun. That's got to be inspiring, so you know she is going to have something great to share.

Remember to keep collecting the secret words. You should have seven by now, and today you will get two more. Don't panic if you don't have them yet. You can go back and visit all the blogs any time, and there is a whole week for you to enter them at the Henry Glass blog.
I will walk you through it, so stay tuned here!

I am still taking entries for my prize drawing, so comment on one of this week's posts and you will be entered to win Sorbet Garden fat quarters.

Have a great day!

Day 3 -- Jolly Holiday Party

2011-11-15T04:00:00.002-07:00

Today there are three HG designers to visit:

Lucy Morey of Hot Scott patterns

Add caption

The gals at Little Quilts

and Vicki from WillowBerry Lane

Are you collecting the key words from each designer? I hope so. Make sure you "Like" Jillily Studio and Henry Glass Fabrics on Facebook, too. That will keep you updated and give you more chances to win!
I'll let you go.. you have a lot of hopping to do!

Day 2-- Jolly Holiday Party

2011-11-14T04:00:00.002-07:00

Jolly Holiday Party hoppers,
Yesterday was the first day of the blog hop. Henry Glass fabrics is going to give a way a whole lot of prizes at the end. Everyday 2 or 3 designers will post on their blog and share a free pattern with you. Visit each one to get the key words so you can enter to win the grand prize at the HG blog after it is all over. Just come back here every day and I will lead you along!

Yesterday you visited me, Jill Finley right here! And my friend, Kari Ramsay of Fresh Cut Quilts.

I got so many nice comments from all of you, I can't wait to choose a winner for my prize. Remember, I am giving away a bundle of "Sorbet Garden" fat quarters. Here's a better look at them. These are really pretty colors and so versatile! I have used them in so many projects!

To win these fabrics,

1. Become a "follower" of my blog.

2. Post a comment on my blog post of yesterday Nov. 13.

I will enter you into my drawing, and choose a winner on Sunday, Nov. 20!

I will also be having a facebook prize drawing, so to increase your chances,
1. Go to facebook and "like" Jillily Studio!
I will choose another winner from my facebook fans, so, theoretically, you could win twice if you are really lucky!
Today for the blog party, go visit two more of my friends:

Jacquelynne Steves of The Nobel Wife

and the LizzieB Girls, Beth and Liz Hawkins

I love these guys! You will too. Go see what they have to share with you, and come back to see me tomorrow.

Jolly Holiday Blog Hop- Day 1

2011-11-13T06:49:00.006-07:00

Hello bloggers! Welcome to the Henry Glass Jolly Holiday Party! I am the first of the Henry Glass designers to post. Thanks for coming! We have lots of great prizes so be sure to follow all week.

Each of the designers is going to answer a few questions about the holidays. Then we will share a project we designed just for you. Let's get started!

First, the questions:

1. What is your favorite holiday food?

Zupfe bread. This Swiss bread is braided and it's so pretty! (And yummy.) I love making it and eating it. It's a favorite of mine because my mom was Swiss and it's a family tradition. I'll share the recipe with you in a few weeks. You're going to love this.

2. Does your family have a favorite holiday tradition?

So many! We love decorating, preparing, cooking, eating, and, playing, and just getting together. But one of my favorite family traditions is making paper snowflakes to hang from the ceiling. This started as our family tradition because Randy and I got married in December and our reception was at my home. We hung paper snowflakes from the ceiling in the whole first floor. It was magical! Every year since then, (that's 35 years now--WOW--times flies!) we have cut and hung snowflakes. Click here to see the snowflakes last year. If you want to see the tutorial, click here.

3. Did you like or hate sitting on Santa's lap?
Are you kidding? Do you know how long ago that was?

4. Was there a gift you really desperately wanted?

I don't remember ever wanting anything in particular, I just wanted to be surprised, and Santa always surprised me.

5. What's your favorite holiday movie?

It's A Wonderful Life, of course. I watch it at least 4 times each December, and never get tired of it. After all, George Bailey IS the richest man in town.

6. Favorite holiday song?

Handel's "Messiah. " I put on the soundtrack when's no one's home and sing along at the top of my lungs. With the symphony and huge choir--there's nothing like it. I also love all kinds of Christmas music, especially Rock and Roll!

7. Do you make many holiday presents?

If I make them, they're almost never finished. So it's almost better not to get a homemade present from me!

8. Would you prefer a large fully decorated tree or one like Charlie Brown's tree?

I love a large tree. In one of our homes, we had a two-story family room. So we had an eighteen foot Christmas tree. It was awesome! (despite the fact that it fell down during a gathering of about 60 ladies one night. All the men in the neighborhood had to come help put it up again!)

9. If you could go back back in time, when would you say was your most favorite holiday memory?

Christmas as a child was magical. And my Dad loved it just as much as I did. Every year my Dad wrote NOEL on the side of our home with Christmas lights. Our home was on a hill and the lights could be seen from anywhere in town. He put large speakers on the roof and played Christmas music every night through our stereo system. Each evening we would get calls from folks asking us to turn the music down so that their children could sleep. Then we would get calls asking us, "Where's the Christmas music tonight?" My dad was a legend in our little town.

10. Do you like a big family gathering, or do you prefer a small dinner followed by hot chocolate by the fire?

Since I have a large family, its hard not to have a a big gathering. After all, the best part about the holidays is getting together with your loved ones!

Okay, so now it's time to share my project with you. I designed a little pillow--

"Holiday Lane"

All those little houses are waiting in the snow for Santa's arrival! You can make this into a pillow, like I did, or you could frame it or use it as a table runner. So many possibilities....

The piecing is simple and a few embellishments complete the fun.

Remember, this is a free pattern so just download it and enjoy!

HOLIDAY LANE PATTERN

I made this little pillow to go with another Christmas pattern I have. "Christmas Village" is a lap quilt, and it just needed a pillow, don't you think?

Christmas Village

Now on to the prizes: To qualify to win the Grand Prizes from Henry Glass, visit each blog this week (I will post a schedule) and collect the key words. Mine for today is TURKEY. (How's that for a creative way to tell you?) Post the list of key words in a comment on the Henry Glass blog between Nov. 20 and Nov. 26.

I am also giving away a prize right here! Just sign up to "follow" my blog and leave me a comment. At the end of the week I will choose a winner for a fat quarter bundle of my newest fabric line, Sorbet Garden. (I used some of this line in my pillow.)

Note: I am offering kits of the "Holiday Lane" pillow on my website for $24.

Now on to the next designer, my friend Kari Ramsay of Fresh Cut Quilts. Kari and I are Sunday's designers. I will post the rest of the list tomorrow.

Happy Hopping, and thanks for stopping!

Jill

Download the Pattern for HOLIDAY LANE

Whoops, you need this, too: The applique patterns

Here's a few more closeups of the details on "Holiday Lane."

Take Two

2011-11-10T12:19:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more looks at Quilt Market. My booth was nothing spectacular, but it got the job done. Only my sister Margaret and I were there, so we had to simplify the set up a bit. It still turned out pretty cute.

Some of my pin cushions were quite a hit. (Everyone loves food)

Even the fat quarter bundles look delicious! And the Poke-A-Dots and Appli-Glue were the stars of the show. We put a Poke-A-Dot on everyone's name badge so they could go try it. Apparently they did, because the orders are flooding in. Thanks, everyone!

Our booth was hopping, even though I think in general the attendance was a bit low.

Here I am with Harriet, Karen and Scott of Henry Glass. They do all the work to bring my fabric designs to you.

And, I can't forget to show you one of the best parts: Unbelievable chocolate cake. It took 4 of us to finish it off.

Don't forget about the Henry Glass blog hop starting Sunday. It's going to be lots of fun!

Home Again...

2011-11-06T15:42:00.000-07:00

I'm home from Market and the craziness is over. Of course there are now orders to fill, but that's nothing compared to what I have been doing. I have the book projects all done and written, so now I only have to do the technical editing and work on the layout. And there is plenty of time for that.
Market was a whirlwind as usual. Lots of work in a short amount of time. But very fun. Here are a few pics.

The first picture I took was of Amy Butler. In fact I had never used my new ipad to take a picture, so Amy gave me a personal ipad lesson so I could snap this shot in her booth. Thanks, Amy!

Here's a look at the Henry Glass booth across from my booth. That's Larry sitting there ready to sell my fabric, which is on the quilt in the background.

I didn't know that the camera was facing me. This is quite a gadget.

Dana's booth (Lazy Daisy) was across from me. She has a new fabric line called Knock Knock, so she brought a door! It was very cute, and she won a booth award! Go HG designers!

I made these large props of my glue and dots so shoppers didn't forget to check out the Jillily booth.

Eleanor Burns is always making history!

Kaffe Fasset's booth was so colorful, I had to take a picture. I love red. Isn't that quilt great?

Down at the Aurifil booth there was a prize drawing for the booth hop they set up. I was one of the booths in the hop, so I donated a few prizes. The grand prize was this large suitcase full of all the colors of Aurifil thread. Wouldn't that be great to have. I would love to have it just to look at!

Jacquelene and hubby of the The Nobel Wife had a booth near me because she is a HG designer, too. She had her new book there and new fabric, too!

I will post more pics in a few days, so stay tuned.

OH, and I need to remind you of the Henry Glass annual Blog Hop. We are doing it earlier this year so you can have time to get your Christmas projects done. So it starts Nov. 13, and there are designers posting every day for a week --with free projects and fun stories. You won't want to miss this! There are tons of prizes, including lots of fabric from Henry Glass.

Remember how much fun we had last year???

A Heartfelt Photo

2011-10-19T09:52:00.000-06:00

I got the best thing in the mail today. A fun group of quilting friends in northern Utah have been working on one of my designs together. they sent me a photo of the whole group with their quilts!

Here are the ladies of HEARTFELT QUILT GROUP with "Garden Rows" from my book, Stitched Together. I think this is just great. They worked on the rows together, then each a quilter added her own finish with borders and bindings.

Renae Hilton, Jeany Campbell, Lisa Rackham, Pat Carver, Kathy Merkley, Ruth Higgins, Kathy Smith, Jana Miller and Susan Auger of Heartfelt Quilt Group

We did this same quilt at our family retreat last year. It was a fun project because we worked in groups, each group doing one row 30 times--then we swapped rows and we each added our own sashing strips and borders.

We had two color choices on the rows. One in more funky soft colors, and one traditional colorway.

I tell every group I visit to send me a picture of their finished projects and I almost never get one. So this was a real treat to see these quilters and their finished quilts. they really did a great job, don't you think?

So, ladies of the Heartfelt Quilt Group, thanks for sharing with all of us. You did a great job!

**Are you still on the lookout in our I SPY game?**

I Spy...

2011-10-13T12:09:00.001-06:00

We are well into October and I am waiting excitedly for my new fabric to arrive. Remember the I Spy game I introduced last month? I hope you are all on the lookout. Here's a refresher of the rules:

Jillily Studio "I SPY" game:

1. Check often at your local quilt shop for "Sorbet Garden" by Jill Finley for Henry Glass Fabrics.
2. Email me (jill@jillilystudio.com) a pic of you and the fabric to prove that it is really true.
3. Be a "follower" of this blog.
3. Post a comment on my blog (just on the most current post) telling all of us that you found the fabric.
4. Be the first (or second) to spot it and you could win!

It's that simple.
And then you will need to check your mail box for the fat quarter bundle I will be sending you!
And of course, you will want to buy more fabric to go with your fat quarter bundle.

Now don't forget--Sorbet Garden.

I also have a FREE pattern you can download on my site (or at Henry Glass) or pick up at the shop where you find my fabric.

Now that's a pretty cute pattern for FREE, don't you think?

This Makes Me Hungry...

2011-10-03T11:49:00.001-06:00

I just got my quilt back from my niece, Maika. She is one of my quilters, and she does a beautiful job. I am so excited about this quilt. It is so darling! Here are some pics that show the quilting.

I gave Maika a wool batting by Quilter's Dream to use in this quilt. It is my favorite because the quilting shows so well, yet it is thin and soft and drapes beautifully.

I am working on the scallops for the edge. Won't that be just the perfect touch to finish this quilt off?

My friend Janet Platt of Quick Points Rulers has a new scallop ruler that I am using to make the binding trim.

Here's a shot of the whole quilt, without the border, so you know it will be even cuter!

I'm naming this one Berry Patch. Imagine that.

This is getting good!

Pepsi or Popsicle?

2011-09-30T16:35:00.002-06:00

Don't kids just love finding tiny little spaces they can get into?

A sewing machine case is not the only thing to "get into." There's all sorts of things they can "get into when you are busy and distracted trying to write a book.

How about Halloween face paint? And it's not even October yet. (I think JoJo helped with this one.)

Like I said, Emmy is not the only distraction around here, but she sure is a cute one!

And then there's me. I can be a problem for myself sometimes. I was working late into the night on a quilt, then I folded up the borders and quilt center, laid them on the table and went to bed. In the morning, I found that something had spilled on them. Through all the layers--all the borders and the quilt center were damp and stiff and a little discolored.

And since I was the last one to bed and the first one up, it must have been something I did.

So I had to wash them. And now they are all laid out to dry.

Have you ever had to wash a quilt before it was finished? Sadly, I don't think this is my first time. Anyway, I thought the Diet Pepsi was to blame.

But later as I cleaned up the table, I discovered one lone popsicle stick.
Empty.
Without a popsicle attached to it.
(They tend to do that when the ambient air temperature is above 32 degrees.)

I do love popsicles.
I'm running out of steam. Time for a Diet Pepsi.

Wedding Pics

2011-09-26T06:49:00.000-06:00

I promised to show the pictures of my daughter's wedding several months ago. We just got the photo disc yesterday, so here are a few. I thought you might enjoy seeing the fun details we fashioned to make the reception so beautiful.
Here's my family at the temple after the ceremony. Randy and I are on the front row with the bride and groom, Talia and Riley. Two of my grandsons, Isaac and Landon are in front of me. Ben and Katie with their brandnew baby, Gabriel are next to Randy. Behind them are Sarah and Tim, holding baby Eli. Jesse and Caitie are next to them with Erin and Seth and little Emmy. JoJo peeks out over Erin and Schuyler is on the top row behind Eli.

This shot conveys the mood of the day! There's a look at the back of Talia's dress. We had it made just for her. She wanted silk dupion with pleats and pockets, covered buttons and a big collar-- and so that's what she got.

After the ceremony, we went to the reception up in the mountains at Sundance. What a beautiful place! And the wedding just made it better.

Talia has her hand in her custom made pocket.

I had some window and floor decals made with the couple's monogram which personalized the event.

The floor decal was applied to the concrete dance floor. It peeled right off easily after we were done.

We had white linens on the round tables and gathered a length of pink tulle around the back of each chair.

The table decorations were quite a project. Talia and I hunted around at second-hand and antique shops for windows. Then we had to clean them up, sand off the old paint, and repainted them. I shouldn't say "we" because Talia and Riley did most of the work. They painted a coat of rosy red first, then a coat of light pink. Then we sanded away some of the pink so the red would show through and give it an aged look. We mounted photos from their engagement and bridal pics in various panes on each window, and added the monograms on the back of the glass. Then we added brackets so they would stand up on the tables.

I have a collection of large glass apothecary jars that we added for some sparkle and we arranged some beautiful flowers in glass vases for each table. (I was a wedding florist in a past life.)

The food was wonderful. And it was beautiful, too. I had little signs made for each item and we placed one square window on the buffet table with the monogram.

The guests arrived and signed the book,

then moved outside to go through the line. Everyone seemed to have such a good time.

The couple cuts the cake.

It's time to use that dance floor.

As the guests leave, they take a small gift, a reminder and a thank you. I spent days making strawberry jam and packing it into these cute little jars.

The "packaging" really makes these special.

Thanks for letting me share some of this special event with you. This is really a blog about my quilting life, but sometimes I just have to tell you what is going on around here! Now you know how I got so behind on my business this summer. (Well at least one of the reasons.)

I'm still working on the book--the deadline is just weeks away.

My Trunk Show

2011-09-21T10:55:00.001-06:00

Hello there. Last night I gave a lecture / trunk show at the Utah Quilt Guild's annual meeting. We had such a good time. I gave away some door prizes, but there were some people who didn't get entered into the drawings. So I want to give all the attendees another chance to win. If you were at the lecture, leave a comment on this post and sign up to become a "follower." I will have another prize drawing to give away some more Appli-Glue and Poke-A-Dots.

Here's a little reminder: Don't forget to play our game of "I SPY." Keep looking for Sorbet Garden to show up in your local quilt shop. The first one to see it gets a fat quarter bundle! (Check out the rules on the Sept. 6th post.)

At the trunk show I talked about Jillily Studio and showed all of my quilts, but the best part is always when I talk about our family quilt retreat. I show lots of quilts we have made over the years doing block exchanges, fabric exchanges and teamwork quilts. Then I show some of the round robin quilts we have done. I had about 10 or so to show last night, but here are a few more that I wasn't able to get, so I thought I would show you here.

This one is Amy's. I mentioned it last night. It started out with just that cute center block in four colors. Then it was sent off for the others in the group to add a border to it. Don't you just love how they kept the color blocking in the same places on each border?! Such a fun quilt!

This one is Christine's. Can you imagine sending off that sweet little appliqued center block and getting this whole quilt back? What a treasure. My sister in law, Tori just finished quilting this one. Check it out on her blog. She has posted some pics of the finished quilt. (By the way, she does a lot of my long arming, and she is fabulous. She lives in Arizona, and you could send your quilt tops to her from anywhere and she will quilt them up beautifully.)

I think this quilt is Jenn's. I wasn't in that group, so I'm not sure, but WOW! Look at all that creativity! Remember, there are no patterns for these quilts. We just get it in the mail, and start figuring out what we want to add to it. I love the white daisies on this quilt. They just pop!

Thanks to everyone who came last night and made it such a fun night for me. I really appreciate all your comments and inspiration. I looks like they will be having a great week at the Quilt Fest. Everyone who came to the trunk show also got a free pattern and a spool of Aurifil thread. Thanks go out to the nice folks at Aurifil thread. (I LOVE that thread!!)

I have been asked if I have patterns for the American Dream quilt I showed you a couple of post ago. Yes, I do have a few copies of that pattern, so if you are interested, email me, and we will get you one. ( jill@jillilystudio.com)

That's all for now. Have a great day!

Nameless

2011-09-13T13:23:00.000-06:00

I have been working on some new projects for a book I am writing for Martingale Publishers. It's kind of crazy to come up with so many new designs at once, but it can be fun, too. I'm glad that my fabric arrived so much sooner than I thought. Now I can use some of it in my book, too.

I thought I would show you a little sneak peek of one of the projects.

I designed this one on my way back from Michigan a few weeks ago. My sister Margaret has been helping me out, and she is putting this one together for me. I gave her all the fabrics and instructions, and . . . .Voila! A quilt is born.

This is just the center, there is more coming, but isn't it cute so far?!

Another challenge for me in book writing, (or in pattern writing for that matter) is finding a name for all these quilts. Maybe I will have to get some help from my fabulously creative readers. Hummmm.

Any ideas?

I Will Never Forget

2011-09-11T22:49:00.000-06:00

I am an American. And today is 9-11. It has been a day of remembering and reflection. They say that everyone who lives through a profound event like the 9-11 attacks always remembers where they were and what they were doing. That is certainly true for me.

Earlier this week I was running some errands and drove past this sight.

It brought me to tears. I was surprised by my reaction. After all, it has been 10 years. I didn't know anyone personally who died that day, and I didn't live anywhere near Manhattan or Washington, or Pennsylvania.

In fact, I lived about as far from there as you can get and still be in mainland USA. We were living in San Diego at the time. That morning my husband was getting ready for work and I was watching the morning news. An airplane had flown right into one of the twin towers in NY. During the news coverage, we watched in horror as the second plane hit. From that time on through the next days and weeks, I stayed tuned in to the television and radio as many of you did. American flags quickly appeared everywhere. They were on cars and homes and businesses. I took the large flag that had draped my father's coffin and hung it on our home. We didn't have a flagpole, but we hung it from the roof.

In the days following 9-11, I was busy working on a quilt I had started earlier that summer. It was a new design I was trying to finish for Quilt Market--"American Dream."

I stitched the applique, quilting and binding as I listened to a new American story unfold. A story of recovery and heroes and strength and courage. It included pain and sorrow as well as love and pride.

I will admit that there are more than a few tears sewn into this quilt.

It reminds me that we are so blessed to live in this great land!

We came together as a nation and turned to one another and to God for strength.

It reminds me that there are so many who have sacrificed so much so that I can enjoy the freedoms that I have today.

And so today I hung my large flag on my home again. I put it up so that it was there when the sun came up. I wanted to show that I did not forget. As we drove to church today, every home we passed had a flag outside.

We will never forget.

E Pluribus Unum.

School's Started

2011-09-07T22:47:00.000-06:00

I bought a new toaster. Weird. It only has 2 slots. I haven't had a 2-slice toaster for. . .well for many years. (That would never work when you have seven kids.)

This is the first year I haven't gone to some school somewhere to register one (or mostly, more) of my kids. In fact, I have done that every year for the past 28 years. I am NOT that old!

Really? Can that be true?

I guess it is. Twenty eight years ago, I took my Sarah to her first day of Kindergarten. And this year I sent off my Schuyler to college, and he is gone and living down by campus, and I am here with my 2-slice toaster.

When Schuyler was five and I took him to Kindergarten, he was so worried about me being home alone.

"But, Mom, who will watch Little Bear with you?"

He's more grown up now. He's not at all concerned that I bought a 2-slice toaster.

So things change, and I will miss a lot about having a student around. (Mostly I will just miss the kids themselves.) But there are some things I won't miss.

I won't miss the calls from the attendance office saying that my student "missed one or more classes today." (I think she had me on speed dial.)
I won't miss parent-teacher conferences. (7 subjects times 3 students, plus 2 teachers times 2 students, plus...you do the math.)
I won't miss running to the store at midnight to get that item they HAVE to HAVE.
I won't miss digging around in the sofa cushions for lunch money.
I won't miss seeing all 7 of my kids go out to catch the bus wearing the same color--because that was the batch of laundry that got done yesterday.
I won't miss driving someone to school in my pajamas when they missed the bus.
I won't miss getting up for early morning seminary. Yawn.
I won't miss the endless hours of homework. (Hey, I got some good grades!)
I won't miss keeping track of all those schedules and events.
I won't miss rushing home from the middle of my errands to be home when the bus gets there.
I won't miss learning that we missed yet another scholarship deadline.
Etc. Etc. Etc.

But actually, I bet I will.
Oh well. Theoretically, there will be more time to quilt.

Theoretically.

From Korea

2011-09-06T13:19:00.002-06:00

Something great has just arrived. (The Fed Ex man told me this. His wife is a quilter, so he should know.) From Korea. What could it be? Overnighted! Really!

I grabbed the nearest thing I could find to get the box open.

(This tool may be familiar to some of you.)

Hmmmm. My new fabrics have arrived! SORBET GARDEN.

These are the 5 yard cuts I get before the bolts come out.

I can't seem to get them out fast enough.

Wow, look at all those great colors! These are just yummy.

Here's a close up.

I just love the soft grays in this line. They are so pretty with these vibrant colors--really make them pop.

You are probably tired of hearing about my "Sorbet Garden" line. But it takes a long time to go from drawings to finished fabric, and I have been keeping you posted all along the way. So it may seem like you have seen this fabric before, but this is the first REAL fabric we have seen. Bolts of this line will start shipping to shops sometime in October. Lets have a little contest and see who can spot it first in a quilt shop. The winner gets a fat quarter bundle. Here are the rules to the first official
Jillily Studio "I SPY" game:

1. Check often at your local quilt shop for "Sorbet Garden" by Jill Finley for Henry Glass Fabrics.
2. Email me (jill@jillilystudio.com) a pic of you and the fabric to prove that it is really true.
3. Post a comment on my blog (just on the most current post) telling all of us that you found the fabric.

It's that simple.
And then you will need to check your mail box for the fat quarter bundle I will be sending you!
And of course, you will want to buy more fabric to go with your fat quarter bundle.

Now don't forget--Sorbet Garden.

Another Procrastination Tale

2011-08-20T21:48:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I was going to take some of my quilts to a local shop for display, and when I was folding them up I noticed that one of the bindings was not sewn!!

I can't tell you how many times this quilt has been on display, and the binding has never been sewn. When I first made the quilt I was hurrying to get it ready to take to Market, and I ran out of time. (How unusual.) So I just glued the binding in place (with the famous Jillily Studio Appli-Glue) and said to myself, "I'll stitch that down later."

Out of sight, out of mind, I guess.

Well it is finally, officially, LATER. So I grabbed a needle and thread and stitched it down.
It didn't take that long at all. I guess you could say that I finished one quilt yesterday!

On my way home from the shop I saw this. The sun had settled behind the mountains leaving most everything in the shade. But that one big fluffy cloud was still catching the light.

Don't you just love clouds? I could watch them for hours. Did you ever just lay on your back in the grass watching the clouds on a summer day? I don't think kids do that any more--it's much too slow paced for this generation.

I think I should teach Cloud Watching Seminars.

Good idea?

PRIZES TO BE WON

2011-08-16T22:20:00.000-06:00

Guess what?! I am the guest blogger over at Sew We Quilt in their Want To Be A Quilter campaign today. There are hundreds of prizes being given away during this campaign. Leave a comment on my post, and sign up to be a follower of me, here at Jillily Studio. That will enter you in the drawing for the prizes.

Be sure to go there and read my tutorial on making yo-yos.

Look what was delivered to my door today. The most cheerful basket of flowers I have ever seen! This was a "thank you" from the nice folks in Paris, Michigan. Those people treated me like a queen--they were sooooo nice!
Thank YOU, Michigan quilters! You are awesome.

If you leave a comment on this post or my previous post, (since it was only up for one day), I will count you in the drawing for the prizes. We are giving away one of my books and a whole bunch of patterns, and Madame Samm has added some stuff to it, too. Good luck!

I will be posting again later in the WANT TO BE A QUILTER campaign, so I have some other prizes scheduled. As soon as I get fabric from my next line, Sorbet Garden,

I am sending some to Madame Samm to give away on my next post!!! Isn't this fun!
Go here to comment on my post at Sew We Quilt.

Here and There

2011-08-16T09:43:00.001-06:00

Last week I was busy with these cute kids. Aren't grandkids the best?!

Then, on the weekend I went to Michigan to teach a workshop. I was at the Creative Loop in Paris, Michigan. They have some beautiful quilts displayed in the shop.

We worked on the Trellis quilt. This has been one of my most popular workshops. We worked a little on piecing, learned some good tips and tricks, then we worked on applique and I shared my method and helpful hints. Then the quilt is finished off with prairie points.

We had a nice BIG workspace!

That piecing is coming along nicely. . .

I didn't remember to take a group photo until some of the ladies were gone, but here is part of the group.

During my trunk show, I showed one of my newest quilts, Around the Town. Guess what? Several of the quilters there had already made this pattern. (They got it from the magazine, American Patchwork and Quilting.) The single pattern is now available on my website.

Two ladies had used my fabrics from the Elizabeth's Letter's line--didn't they turn out great! I really like the green stripe as the border, don't you?

One quilter had done her version in different fabrics. I LOVE this one! The dark houses and flowers on the light background really pop. I can't wait to see it with the border on. I hope she remembers to send me a picture!

If you have made up one of my patterns in a different color way, I would LOVE to see it. After all, variety is the spice of life!

Going to Paris

2011-08-04T13:46:00.002-06:00

I should have told you about this before, but I want to invite you to come to my next event. It is in Paris, Michigan. (France would have been nice, too, but so many of you would not come that far.) I am going there next weekend to teach a workshop and trunk show. (Aug. 12 & 13)

I am so excited about this. We are really going to have a good time. The shop that is hosting the event is The Creative Loop--and they have been so great to work with. Sounds like they have everything ready.
There will be a workshop on Friday and the All Day Sew on Saturday with my trunk show some where in the middle. I am gathering up tons of quilts and stories to share.

Here I am doing a trunk show last year. The quilt behind me, TRELLIS is the one we are doing in our workshop on Friday.

This trunk show was at Bryce Canyon last year. If you want to read about how much fun it was, look here.

Here is the flyer for the events at the Creative Loop in Paris, Michigan next week. Please note that the time for the Trunk Show is NOON on Saturday, not 2:00.

If you live anywhere near Paris, Michigan, I would so love to see you there. It is always fun to meet the people you "know" online. So please come join us. (I have prizes!!) Tell me if you are coming and I will bring you something special.

If you want me to come to your area, just invite me! We would have so much fun together!

Are you following my friend Jacquelynne's Book Blog Tour each day? I have been, too. I'm also hopping on over to see what's happening at the WANTOBE Quilter Campaign--So much to do there is hardly time to quilt!!! (NEVER)

Campaign for New Quilters

2011-08-03T08:40:00.000-06:00

First of all, some housekeeping: We have a winner from the drawing.
Carrie P. from North Carolina, you won! Just email me your address and I will get this prize off to you. (jill@jillilystudio.com)

Speaking of housekeeping, I have been trying to organize my sewing room a little bit, so I can get something done. (Or so I can walk in the door.) I have had to move so many things out and it is a big mess. I can't think when it is like this. So I will try to finish that up today.

Now I have to tell you about a wonderful event going on over at Stash Manicure. You know that I have often been a guest poster there, and I always sponsor whatever is going on at Stash! Well, there is something really BIG happening. Madame Samm has started a

WANTOBE Quilter Campaign

for all new quilters to join and win big prizes and learn all kinds of things about quilting.

Things will continue on just the same at Stash, with a great guest post every day, just like normal, BUT there will be lots of prizes given away--EVERY DAY! Everything from sewing machines and irons to patterns, books and fabric bundles.

You can win by commenting on the posts--(and this is important) but you have to have a sponsor. Just say you came from Jillily Studio. Then I will be your sponsor!

I have donated a lot of prizes, and I will let you know when I post over there, but be sure to stop by and sign up to WIN. If you know anyone who is new to quilting, or just starting out, have them enter with my sponsorship. If you have been quilting for years, you can win too!

NOW for the next 12 weeks.......

Stash will still have guest bloggers for all 12 weeks.

Mon-Fri will be guest days and giveaways.

(M-W-F for new quilters, and T-Th for already quilters.)

Saturday will be Sponsor days...( they will be able to share

sales, promotions, new products launches....)

Sunday...a little break.

That's all for now. I have to go finish cleaning. . .

My Friend Jacquelynne

2011-08-01T09:27:00.002-06:00

One of the best things about being a designer in the quilting industry is getting to meet and spend time with so many talented and fun people. Jacquelynne Steves is a friend of mine and a fellow Henry Glass Designer. Her fabrics are so sweet--they all come from her hand-painted illustrations in her one-of-a-kind style. You can see her latest line, Apple Blossom Acres here.

Now Jacquelynne has brought that style to a new book she has written and illustrated for Kansas City
Star (another thing we have in common). This book is a treasure!

Fruitful Hands is the perfect title.

Jacquelynne is hosting a Book Blog Tour this week to showcase the new book. You will want to visit her blog because there are prizes each day!!

It is so fun to see not only all the great designs but the whole book is illustrated by Jacquelynne. It is filled with wonderful projects in stitchery, wool, quilting, AND yummy recipes.

Here's one of the stitchery projects, Fruit of the Spirit. Isn't that covered mat a good idea? You could use any of your favorite fabrics to highlight your stitchery, and the instructions for covering the mat are included, too.

Here's another page with an enticing recipe. I happen to love cranberry sauce, so I bet I will love this Blueberry Chutney too! I can't wait to try it on a home-made roll spread with cream cheese and layered high with chunks of roasted turkey. Makes me hungry just thinking of it!

I really think Jacquelynne can be proud of this book, and I know you will love it too. You can find it at quilt shops and on the web. If you want to order it from Jacquelynne, here's the link to her site.

Now remember to visit the rest of the Blog Book Tour, here's the schedule:

Monday: Brenda Riddle of Acorn Quilt and Gift Company
Jill Finley of Jillily Studio
Tuesday: Pat Sloan of, well, everything!
Wednesday: Natalie Lymer of Cinderberry Stitches
Thursday: Michele Foster of The Quilting Gallery
Friday: Sandi Andersen of A Legacy of Stitches

There are prizes to be won every day, so hop on over! And in the spirit of prize giving, I think I will give one away, too. So make a comment here and I will send you a free pattern--how about "Meadow?"

I will choose a winner tomorrow and let you know... But you will need to be a follower, and leave a comment on this post.

PS. I have some great things to post about this week, so be sure to come back often!!!!!

History Lesson

2011-07-24T22:19:00.000-06:00

It's Pioneer Day-- A Utah holiday celebrating the day the first group of pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley to make it their new home after walking halfway across the continent. So around here, with Independence Day on the 4th, and Pioneer Day on the 24th, we pretty much have fireworks all month long. Every get-together of any size involves fireworks--and especially this year because the air-born exploding fireworks are now legal for the general public. Each night I look out my back window and see fireworks displayed across the valley. It has been so much fun.
So I dragged out my Utah quilt for the occasion.

This is about the first quilt I designed. I made it in 1996 to celebrate Utah's 100th birthday as a state. All the blocks depict Utah images -with 45 stars (becuase Utah was the 45th state) and 29 log cabin blocks representing the 29 counties in the sashings. The outside border is made of 100 birthday candles with hearts in the corners for Utah's state song, Utah We Love Thee.

The beautiful mountains are the thing I miss most when I am not in Utah. I love the snow covered peaks and how tall they rise above the valleys as a protection from the rest of the world. I have so many good memories of skiing and snowmobiling; camping and fishing; picnicing and hiking among these peaks. The state flower, Sego Lily can also be found here.

While the pioneers arrived here in 1847, they did not get statehood until 1896. Believe it or not, that fabric around the dates in the Utah block was dark navy blue when I made this. In this quilt there were several fabrics that faded, and they were all blue. None of the reds faded--interesting. There was a little quilt hanging out of the back of the covered wagon, but it is lost somewhere.

Delicate Arch in Arches National Park is one of my favorites. I once hiked up there in the dark to watch a full moon come up over the arch. The hike back down was well-lit!

The trans-continental railroad was joined in Utah with a Golden Spike, and the mining block is important to me because I grew up in a mining community.

The Salt Lake Temple block has a lot of little pieces. This was before I learned to applique, so all these blocks are pieced using hundreds of pieces. The temple was started almost as soon as the pioneers entered the valley, but it took 40 YEARS to finish it! All of the granite stones that make up the walls were hand cut from the nearby canyons. Each stone weighed thousands of pounds and was transported to the valley by ox cart. What a lot of work!

Here's the state bird (Seagull) and the state symbol (Beehive) --one comes from a tale of a miracle and the other from the state motto, INDUSTRY.

So now you know almost all you need to know about Utah, and if you want me to name all the counties, (and county seats) I can, but I won't bore you any more. Being that this was one of my first quilting projects, I just pretended to know what I was doing, and it was a big learning experience. I hand quilted this project, and I haven't done that since. I love the look of hand quilting, but it just takes me too long.
I wish I had time to do that again, I really did enjoy it.

I share this with you today because this was really the start of my quilting journey, and I have loved every minute of it. I am so fortunate to live in this beautiful place that gives me so much inspiration. I LOVE Utah! Happy Pioneer Day!!!

A Fair With Flair

2011-07-19T20:04:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow (Wednesday, July 20) is the July Quilt Fair for the Utah Valley Quilt Guild. I am a vendor there again this year, so if you are local, come see me! This is one of my favorite events of the year --there are hundreds of quilters packed into a small space just for one day, and it is busy! They have a

Vendor mall,

Bake Sale,

Garage Sale,

Quilt Auction and

Free Classes!

I'm bringing some kits of some of my summer favorites, and I will have plenty of patterns and notions, too.

As always, I'm planning to do some demos in my booth, so come join the fun.

Mention this post and 20% off your pattern purchase.

See you there!

"PLAY BALL!"

2011-07-18T12:00:00.001-06:00

That was a whirlwind. Life is busy, but isn't it great! I think this is the longest I've ever gone without posting. I was trying to keep up until I finally just gave myself "permission" to take a little break. But I have still been quilting and working, so I have a few things to show you. First of all, the wedding was wonderful, and I can't wait to show you some photos, but I don't have them yet. (I was a little tied up being in the line, and being cheif wedding coordinator, and mother of the bride, etc, so I didn't get any pics, but that's why we hired a photographer, right?) So I have been even busier since, trying to catch up on everything I put off.

I have been working on a book I am doing for Martingale. This is one of the projects. It won't be out until next year, but I have a lot of quilts to make and write, so I have to use every bit of time I can find to get them all done.

And there seems to be a lot of time available between innings. So I think baseball and applique are a good match, don't you?

Nothing like a summer evening at a baseball game. The view is beautiful, and then there's the hot dogs and cotton candy. Throw in a few fast balls and double plays and watch out for those foul balls. There's the National Anthem and the seventh inning stretch. Add to all of that the fun of quilting to make it even better!

That's why I love applique. Portable projects let you use bits of time you would not otherwise, so it gets done almost without you even noticing. When you prep everything before, you don't even have to think, just stitch. Now that's relaxing!

Now to share with you some pics of my newest grandson. This is little Gabriel. Isn't he precious?!

He is still so tiny, and he's 3 weeks old tomorrow. He was only 5 pounds at birth, but is doing so well. We have a grand time around here with all of these cute kids.

I can't wait to see what mischief he'll be into in a couple of years!

What have you been doing this summer? Do you work on quilts in odd places too? I want to hear about it.

BIAS TAPE TUTORIAL

2011-06-12T21:23:00.002-06:00

Hello everyone, thanks for visiting my blog. Make sure you check out everything I have here for you, and be sure to vote in the polls! I loved all your sweet comments about Talia in my last post. Just to clarify, she is not married yet, (we still have more stuff to do) we just had a bridal portrait shoot so we can have some pictures to display at the reception. Two and a half more weeks. It is very exciting. I will post a few pics after the reception.

So finally, here is the tutorial I promised you about making bias vines/stems. This is one of the easiest things to do, and it can add so much to at quilt. As far as applique goes, stems and vines are one of the best ways to fill up space:

"A Walk in the Park" from the book, Stitched Together

"Carousel" from the book, "Stitched Together"

Let's start with these tools:

These are Clover brand Bias Tape Makers. They are the best on the market. In the picture above, from the left, is a 1/4", 3/8", 1/2", and 3/4". They come in some larger sizes, too, but this is all I have ever used. (You will notice that the 3/8" looks a little different because it is the fusible type, which can add a strip of fusible tape to the finished bias--but I never use the tape.)

Start by cutting a strip of fabric on the bias --diagonally half way between the two grainlines. The width of the strip depends on the finished size. Cut the strip double the finished width + 1/8".
For example, if I want 1/4" finished bias tape, I would cut double that--1/2" plus an extra 1/8" = 5/8".

In my photos I am making 3/8" bias tape, so I cut my strip 7/8".
First, spray the strip with starch or sizing. This is important because it helps to hold the crease in.

With a hot iron, press just the first inch or two of the strip to dry the starch and stiffen the fabric.

Now you can feed the fabric strip into the Bias Tape Maker. Turn it over so that the wrong side of the fabric is facing the colored side of the Bias Tape Maker.

On the bottom of the Bias Tape Maker is a slot. You can see the fabric through the slot.

Use a pin or awl to poke the fabric and slide it along to come out the other end of the Bias Tape Maker.

Now turn the unit back over so that the colored side of the Bias Tape Maker is up. Pin the fabric strip end to your ironing board to hold it in place.

Stick the tip of your hot iron in between the pin and the Bias Tape Maker.

Slowly pull back on the Bias Tape Maker as you slide your iron along behind it. The fabric strip will come out folded, and the iron will press it in place. That's all there is to it! It is really that easy.

Now you can shape your finished bias tape into any curves you need using your iron. For this part I like to use steam, so that it re-activates the starch you already have in the fabric. This will help it keep the shape you press it into. Don't respray with starch here, or the moisture will undo the folds in the bias tape.

If you are following a pattern or placement diagram, you can place the bias tape right along the lines and press into the shape the pattern provides.

Here's another hint: Sometimes you have a design that has a mirror image, and you want to repeat the same shape reversed. Once you have one side done, to get the same shape again in reverse, just lay your bias tape on top of the finished design, with the wrong side up. Follow the shape with your bias tape, pressing with a hot iron as you go.

On this design, I have "copied" the shape of the vine on the left with the light green bias tape. My bias tape will stay in this shape and just needs to be placed on it's own background and glued down with Jillily Studio Appli-Glue!

This design was from a pattern I have called BUD BERRIES. I wrote this pattern specifically to teach my applique method. It sure is a cute little pillow, and a fun way to learn to applique. For my new readers, I posted a tutorial about applique shapes a few weeks ago.

Get some applique all prepped up and go sit outside in the sun to stitch. What a fun summer
relax-tivity!

"A Princess!!"

2011-06-09T11:17:00.000-06:00

Jeepers, I can't believe it has been so long since I last posted! I kept trying to get to it, but my life took over! I have been very busy with the post-market scramble, and to add to that, my daughter is getting married, so we have been doing all of that fun stuff. The thing is, much of it is really urgent and the time-line is so important to get everything planned, printed, stamped, and arranged. So those of you who are waiting for the "easy bias vines" post, keep watching, I will get to it, eventually!

For now, I can quickly share a few pics of the bridal photo shoot we had yesterday. (So you believe me that this is really true.) These are just some shots I took of the "shoot," so they are definitely not professional, just some candid looks.

Hi Andrea! Talia's cousin came to help out--holding a branch out of the way.

Our photographer took us to Wheeler Farm to get some shots of Talia and Riley all dressed up and ready to be married. What a beautiful day!! They booth looked so great! I got a little teary watching them see each other for the first time in wedding attire.

The main reason I wanted to share a little of this with you is because of this spontaneous moment--I thought you would like it. While we were walking to set up another portrait, a little girl (who was there with her family) came running toward Talia, saying, (squealing)

"A princess, a princess!"

She was so excited to meet "Princess Talia!"

She came right up and gave her a hug!

Talia let her hold the flowers, but she just wanted to play.

"Come play with me, Princess!"

Tali tried to introduce her Prince, but the little girl was uninterested in him. Aren't kids the best?! So genuine and unrestrained. This little girl's family was so apologetic, but I loved it. It was priceless.

And, after all, my Talia really does look like a Princess, doesn't she?

I'm so proud of her, she is beautiful INSIDE and out!

And just to close, my final advice for the day... you can't have a great outfit without great shoes!

Have a happy day!

Winners Announced

2011-05-27T19:18:00.001-06:00

OK, we have winners:

KatieQ of NY in the USA

and

Linda K of Georgia in the USA

If you are one of these people, email me to give me your address and I will ship your prizes!

(jill@jillilystudio.com)

I told you that I would be showing you how to make vines and stems for applique, and I have not forgotten! I will have to do that next week after the Memorial Day holiday weekend. See you then,

Have a great weekend!

Jill

PREVIEW and Wait!

2011-05-26T20:56:00.001-06:00

A quick reminder.... tomorrow is the last day to enter the drawing for all my applique supplies and a few patterns.

If you didn't know, I set this drawing up on Stash Manicure on Tuesday, but I am taking entries until Friday evening. I am aware that Blogger was having some issues not letting people comment, so I will take all comments--either here or on the post at Stash to enter you in the drawing. I am choosing two winners, and this prize package is worth over $65! So be sure to enter!!!

Today I got some new strike-offs on my new line, SORBET GARDEN. I told you all about my booth being based on my sorbet shop, but I don't think I ever did show you the fabrics up close. When I was designing this line, I was thinking citrus. You know my "Citrus Salad" pattern? Well I constantly get requests for kits, so now I will be able to kit that quilt.
The lighting was not great, but here are a few pics:

Here's the GREENS. They turned out so beautiful! I love the variety in value and texture.

ORANGES are the perfect compliment to the greens, and they add such a spark to the line.

The WHITES: I used gray this time to make the tonal pieces. I just love them! White with gray is so crisp and it is perfect with this group.

The PINKS are a little bit of sweetness added to the group. Can't you just see them in a soft cuddly baby quilt? Pink grapefruit, anyone?

YELLOWS didn't photograph very well, but they are yummy! Lemony and crisp, these are the perfect shade of yellow!

Of course, I had to include REDS! These are great because there is that soft red that is so usable and a brighter clear red for punch. By the way, don't you just love the graphic herringbone against the swirly bird print?

I must admit, my favorite part of the line is ....

the selvage! This is my 4th fabric line with Henry Glass, and I still can't believe it! I am so fortunate to be able to do what I love--and share it with you.

Be sure to ask your local quilt shop to order SORBET GARDEN! I will have fabric at the end of the summer, so you will have to wait a bit, but it will be worth it!

A NEW LOOK!

2011-05-24T00:04:00.002-06:00

My blog has had a face-lift. It needed it. My friend Samm, over at Stash Manicure fixed it all up and I am so happy with the new look. It even matches my website, which is really nice. Thanks Samm!

I have a post over at Stash Manicure today, so go check it out. (There are prizes involved!)
Go read my post and make a comment so you can be a winner! You will need to be a follower here too, so I can enter you in the drawing.

My post over there was getting so looooong. So here's a few things I didn't have room to use in my post about applique. (I guess this post will be a Post Script-Post.)

Here's one block all glue basted together. None of the pieces are sewn yet. It just shows how I glue everything in the block, even if they overlap, at once. That way I don't waste stitches underneath or behind where they are not needed. Plus I can layout the whole design and be all ready to stitch.

This fun quilt (A WALK IN THE PARK) has some large applique pieces and lots of stems and vines. They really do fill up the space. Without the applique it is a pretty simple quilt made with traditional hour glass blocks. The applique takes it to another level.

Now to change the subject, I want to put in a plug for one of my favorite quilt magazines. Quilter's Home is not just a collection of patterns. It is a quilting lifestyle magazine. Lots of fun to read, and very informative. Give it a try, I think you will like it!

This issue just came in the mail, and look at what is on page 29! Weird, they have my picture there on a page titled, "What the pros think."

I can say from experience that this is just a little intimidating. I would hardly consider myself a quilting "pro"--since I mostly am just pretending I know what I am doing! But...technically the definition of PRO is "engaging in an activity mainly as a paid occupation rather than as a passtime."

Weeellll, I don't know. There is an awful lot of time being passsed around here in the quilting mode!

Don't forget to enter to win the prizes. I may include a copy of the magazine, too!

QUILT FRIENDS ARE THE BEST

2011-05-21T22:59:00.000-06:00

Quilt Market is always so fun. I really missed walking the show this time because there are always so many wonderful and creative displays, AND wonderful people. I shared some of them with you already, and here are a few more. I just did a quick run by at some of my favorite people's booths.

My friend Cori Blunt has such wonderful quilt patterns--she is amazingly talented. I am lucky to call her my friend.

Over at the Quick Points booth, my friend Janet was absent, but her husband was manning the show! Look at that cute quilt on the back wall--don't those fabrics look familiar? She has a new ruler out now that does scallops, too!

I have a couple of patterns that use picot points, and the Quick Points Ruler really comes in handy here!
The AHOY! baby quilt uses picot points in the border and for waves in the quilt center. This has been one of my most popular patterns.

Trellis is another big seller for me. I guess it could be the points that make these so much in demand--but I'm not sure. It's hard to say what makes a quilt pattern sell. I haven't figured it out, but if you know, perhaps you can share it with me!

Another one of my friends, Emily, of Crazy Old Ladies won an award for her booth, too! She has a new fabric line out with Michael Miller. Congrats to Emily!

On Tuesday I will be guest poster over at Stash Manicure, AND I will be introducing a new blog design. I can't wait for you to see it. I will also be having a fabulous give-away, so be sure to check in again on Tuesday!

I want to thank all of my wonderful readers for all your kind comments and helpful advice. I really depend on you, and you make all of this worth it. I just hope that you come away with a useful bit of information once in a while, too!
Thanks, quilters---You're the best!

More From Market

2011-05-18T19:56:00.001-06:00

Before Market I promised to show you what I was working on, and then I ran out of time. So now that you have seen the finished projects, I will show you a few up-close shots so you can see the details.

My Petal Pushers quilt is perfect for a baby quilt, and so much fun to do that curved piecing. My niece Maika quilted it and I want you to see it. Isn't she great? She does this all on her home machine!

Another new pattern, Crossroads was quilted by my sister-in-law Tori (of That's So Quilt). I am blessed to have so many talented people in my family. (Don't you just love Yo-yos?)

I think my fabrics, Sorbet Garden were really well received at Market. They look good enough to eat, don't they?

Cotton Cream Cones

Market is so amazing. So many talented people, and so many booths. It was huge. There were 29 isles with about 1100 booths.

Usually I try to walk the show, but this year I didn't have time. I didn't get very many photos this year because I was so busy in my booth. I tried to get some of the other Henry Glass designers, since we were all together in one area. They are all so great. I am honored to be one of them.

Heather Mulder Peterson (and husband) in her Anka's Treasures booth. What beautiful projects!

Here's Laurie Bird and her sister in the Rose Cottage booth.

Amy Hamberlin of Katie Cupcake was across from me. Wonderful fabrics and all kinds of cute projects.

This is Robert, the owner of Henry Glass Fabrics visiting with Amy and Harriet, one of the art designers.

Dana Brooks of Lazy Daisy Cottage--with her new OOH La La line. (She's a designer.)

Pam and Janet of the very famous Buggy Barn. They continue to churn out wonderful patterns and fabrics. LOVE the new ice cream cone pattern, and it was right across the isle from me--great placement!
There are several Henry Glass designers that I didn't get a picture of, and now I am so sorry! I went by and visited with them, but no camera. What was I thinking? You will have to visit all of them on their blogs. They are listed on the side bar.

That's all for today. Later I will show you a few more pictures of Market.

Post Market Post (or I WON! )

2011-05-16T18:35:00.001-06:00

Well, Market has come and gone. It was a whirlwind. My booth turned out soooo cute. It's amazing what you can do with a few supplies from Home Depot and some duct tape! I had in mind that I wanted to create an old fashioned ice cream parlour--well actually, a sorbet parlor. (Since my new fabric line is called Sorbet Garden.) So (true to form) the night before set up I was sewing a pink and white striped awning. I had my daughter recover the stools in the same fabric. We were scrambling to get it all done in time, but we finally made it. I was so excited to learn that my booth was given the CREATIVITY AWARD! Here's a few pics.

I had some great helpers getting all of this set up and working in the booth. Tori (sister-in-law) came all the way from Arizona and helped me haul in all the pieces! David and Andrea came by to help out, too.
I'll show you some of the fun details in my Sorbet Shop. Notice the floor sticker in this photo. I had it made with pink and white stripes in the background.

On the counter behind the glass sneeze guard I displayed all the "flavors" of sorbet in the line. The bottom edge of the glass says "Sorbet Garden" & "Jillily Studio."

We actually did have REAL sorbet in the freezer, and we served up little cones to all our customers. That will remind them to look for "Sorbet Garden" when they are searching for the next fun fabric line

I had glass jars filled with fruits to make the sorbet!

And some jars were filled with Appli-Glue and Poke-A-Dots. . .

Check out these cones. No calories here. And they are quick and easy to make--a fun little pin cushion to display in your sewing room or give as a gift. (One of my new patterns)

The pay phone is ready for you to call and place your order.

My sister Margaret is checking to see if the phone works. She spent two days at that little table demonstrating my notions.

Can you see the cute banner above the hutch? My niece Lacey made it for me, and she even came and helped me set up and scooped sorbet cones for a day. Judy and Amy (my sister and niece) were here helping too, and I didn't even get a picture of them, but they worked hard. It's great to have a big family!

The "Menu" functions as a brochure--showing all of my products from patterns and notions to fabrics.

When you are ready to check out, an old fashioned cash register can ring you up!

At the counter you can see the sweets and treats displayed. There is one of my new quilts hanging on the wall behind the sorbet. That's "Crossroads" on the left, (made with Sorbet Garden fabrics) and the new "Petal Pushers" on the right.

Maika (my niece) quilted Petal Pushers for me, and she can serve cones, too! (Multi-talented)

Look who showed up in my booth. The very famous and wonderful Eleanor Burns! What an honor to have her here!

She and I were talking when the Quilts, Inc people showed up to give me the booth prize for CREATIVITY. I got a big ribbon and a plaque. (Gee, the last time I got a plaque it had something to do with swimming---quite a change.)

(Sorry, I think I am in the middle of a sentence when this picture was taken.) My niece Amy (different niece) was scooping that day. Thanks for all your help, Amy!

That's me and Karen, my art director from Henry Glass. She is the one who makes all my designs come to life on fabric.

By the end of the show, more family showed up to help bring this all home.

Standing behind the counter is Talia and her fiance, Riley, then my dear hubby, Randy, and daughter-in law Erin. Margaret and Maika are on the stools and me leaning on the counter. I have so much support from my wonderful family, and I hope they all know how much I appreciate all their help!

We had a great Market. Our booth was packed most of the time. Sometimes there was a long line for cones! (Food is always a draw.) We met so many wonderful people and wrote lots of orders. I think the fabric sold well, too. So that's all for this Market, and we'll do it all again in 6 months.

I have some more photos of Market I will share with you in a few days.

BOX RISK

2011-04-30T07:37:00.000-06:00

I have several projects I am in the middle of, but I need to move on to the more urgent ones. I need to get cleaned up and organized. But there is a risk. Once you put a project in a box and set it in the closet, the risk of it becoming a permanent UFO increases by an estimated 457%. At least in my sewing room, if I put a project away, it is easily forgotten.

So I boxed up the little wallhanging. . .

and my catheral windows pillow. . . And several other "in the middle of" projects. I really hate to do that, but I need the working space. I think I am hoping that writing about it will remind me to get back to it soon...

Now on to a few new items for Spring Market. I will be showing you those in the next few days.

Sorbet Garden

2011-04-26T07:47:00.000-06:00

So did you miss me? I have been AWOB (absent without blogging) for such a long time! First of all, I have been tooooo busy, but also I was suffering from "lack of camera," and it just doesn't seem right to blog without any photos. I didn't have anything to tell you anyway, because I hadn't started anything new...but now...

presenting SORBET GARDEN

I have new fabric coming out! Here's the strike-offs. These won't be in stores until September, but if you are a store, be sure to order these now. My last line sold out and so many shops were not able to get the fabric they wanted. Be sure to tell your favorite store to watch for "Sorbet Garden" and get it ordered. I think the reps will be showing it starting May 1 .

This is my new pattern, Crossroads. As you know, Quilt Market is here in Salt Lake City this spring, so I thought I should make a pattern since Salt Lake is the "Crossroad of the West!" (See you learn something new every day.)

I have worked myself up into a sewing frenzy--with all kinds of great plans for new projects to be ready very soon, since Market is only 2 1/2 weeks away. YIKES!
I better get back to sewing...

Friday Night at the Movies

2011-04-08T17:32:00.001-06:00

It's Friday night. Time for a little diversion. Go pop some corn and get your soda...time for a few short quilt films. The first one is Twilight (which I didn't see, so I didn't get it--but I am told the younger quilters will.) The next one is ~~Ghost~~ Quilt Busters. ENJOY.

If you are now in a goofy mood, there are more of these silly videos on my website, so go view them all!
Disclaimer: I have nothing to do with the production of said videos, other than being related to all participants.

I also want to announce the winners of my drawing over at Stash Manicure. Thank you all for your kind comments. I love to hear from you. Mr. Random Number Generator has choosen:

#65: Wendy

and

#104: Charity

I am sending each of you a copy of my book, Stitched Together and some Appli-Glue and Poke-A-Dots. But wait....I need your addresses! So if this is you, send me an email! (jill@jillilystudio.com)

Wool Applique...

2011-04-07T20:33:00.002-06:00

Remember all that beautiful wool we dyed with Kool Aid? Well, we used it on our main project at Quilt Retreat. My niece April designed the quilt this year. It is so cute! We each did a different take on it, but the central block featured some wool applique. We thought it might be fun this year to have a little time to sit around doing hand work so we could visit. It was a nice thought. And some people did actually get to the hand work part, but I did not. (As usual.) I am always running a little behind.

Here is my block--I am doing a bit different project with my appliqued block, because it will be one of the patterns in my next book. I set it on point and did some of the same blocks around it, but a smaller version. I'm not sure what will come next, but there will be more... (By the way, I used Appli-Glue to baste my pieces on and it works great! Cotton or wool, Appli-Glue is the way to baste!)

Sorry about the blurry! I must have dropped my camera, it isn't working very well.

My girls are stitching away at their table. Erin, (daughter-in-law) got her top all done, Caitie (daughter-in-law) was at her first retreat and got her blocks all done, and almost put together (Amazing) and Katie (daughter-in-law) finished her top as well! Talia (daughter) is not in this pic because I think she is sitting on the floor, but that is her quilt top draped over her chair in the foreground. They all did such a great job!

Some of my nieces, Melissa and Kaitlyn and my sister Susan working at their machines.

Susan is working here on the tote bag. Besides the main project, we had several small project classes, including the cathedral window pillow that I already showed you and this tote bag. I actually finished mine there. I think that is a record. Here is another blurry photo as proof:

It's a perfect bag for projects, papers, music, etc because it has stiff sides and a few inside pockets. When I get a better photo I will replace it--sorry about that.
Stay tuned, because tomorrow I will announce the winners of the book/glue/dots drawing, and post some more quilt skits!

Family Pieces 2011

2011-04-06T14:27:00.001-06:00

I told you I would show you the pillow my sister Judy made using silk for her Cathedral Windows. Isn't it beautiful? Makes me want to go finish mine right away. I will eventually.

But first I promised to tell you more about our retreat.
It starts with getting everything into the car. That can be a challenge. Fortunately there were four cars leaving from my area so I sent a few suitcases with my sister, and some random stuff that we just couldn't fit in with my nieces.

Once we get there we all unload and help set up. With so many people, this goes fast.

Side Note: So many of you made comments about our retreat saying you couldn't believe we have so many family members interested in quilting. Well it wasn't always that way. At our first retreat, (15 years ago) just my sisters and Mom were there. The next year some of our married daughters wanted to join us. So that is how we got here. Most daughters and daughters-in-law have never quilted when they come for the first time. But that changes -- as you know, quilting can be addicting. Some of the young moms don't have much time for quilting, so this may be the only time each year that they get out their machine. We all help each other and learn together.

After we set up we have a meeting and introduce the project and classes we get started. The first night we have a trunk show and get to see what everyone has been working on all year. This is a highlight for me. I have just a few trunk show photos to show you, as I get distracted and forget to shoot!

Lisa with her completed project from last year. You may have seen mine on my website, (it's in my book) it has a green border, but don't you just love the gold?

Jane finished hers from last year too. It was in a different colorway. Darling!

Maika with one of her MANY completed projects.

Tori showing her beautiful long arming on this project from a past retreat. Tori does a lot of quilting for me.

Christine showing what she made out of leftovers from one of the round robbin quilts last year.

Hillary with one of many projects. She is a prolific piecer.

Nicole even made an elephant!


Margaret's Candied Pretzels from last retreat. (From my book)

Melissa version of Candied Pretzels

Maika with a quilt she made and quilted for her daughter. Maika does all her quilting on her home Bernina. Amazing!

It's probably a good thing I didn't take too many photos, or you would be bored. (And we wouldn't want that.) Anyway, after the trunk show we have a crazy tradition. We watch the video spoofs that my kids make. It started out with them making fun of our quilt obsession, so every year they do a new video. Here is the one my daughter, Talia and niece Andrea made about their "best friends." You may relate.....

Well that's enough for today. Tomorrow I will share the other video skits and tell you about all that wool we dyed and how we used it at retreat.
Have a happy day--with your best friend!

Never Forgetting

2011-04-04T22:41:00.001-06:00

It's been a bit since I last posted. I hope you have all been busy quilting away while I was gone. I was gone to Family Pieces quilt retreat--the best time of the year. My family quilt retreat is something we all look forward to. The best part is being with the people I love and sharing some time and fabric and creativity with them. For some of them, it is the only time all year we see each other, so it is an important event.

This year our theme was NEVER FORGETTING. It is a phrase from the letter my great-grandmother wrote to her daughter---"from your never forgetting mother..." We focused on that this year because we also used the fabric which features her letter, Elizabeth's Letters in our projects.
Here's a picture of the cute envelope my niece made to put all our registration stuff in. We each got an envelope with our project book, instructions, meal plan and assignments, and prizes. I absolutely love the necklace they included. It featured photos of my mom and other ancestors and some beads from one of her pieces of jewelry.

Check out the "stamps" on the cover of our retreat book. Lots of family photos and a few "galloping horses." (That has become a motto at retreat: "If you can't see it from a galloping horse, it doesn't matter." Referring to mistakes we make, corners we cut off, seams that don't meet, etc.)
In the next few days I will post more photos of the retreat and the projects we worked on. I can't wait the share it with you.
I have a guest post at Stash Manicure today, so you will want to check that out because there is a prize drawing involved. I will announce the winners here on this blog, so visit both blogs this week and we will choose a winner on Thursday.

"My Favorite Bag"

2011-03-22T17:20:00.001-06:00

Boy do I have a treat for you. I ran into a quilter at the store the other day. (Being as I was in a fabric store, who else would I run into?) She said she had made a bag out of my fabric, and of course I begged her to send me some photos. Well, she sent these over, and it is cuter than I could imagine! What a darling pattern! (and such cute fabric, too.)

Isn't that the sweetest thing!? The talented quilter who made this is Janice Hanson from ??? (somewhere around here, Northern Utah). She was so nice to send me these photos and let me share them with you. I know this will inspire you to go make something fun.

Can you believe all those pockets? This pattern is so cute! It is one of the Katie Cupcake patterns by Amy Hamberlin. It's called "My Favorite Bag." You can get the pattern here. Amy is one of the Henry Glass designers, so I get to see her at Market and our booths are always close to each other. She is so sweet, and so are her designs. Be sure to check out her site.

I love how Janice used so many different fabrics in the different places on this bag. On a project like this, a collection of fabrics is great. You know that I always love to use different fabrics in quilts, but when they are made to go together like these are, (from Elizabeth's Letters) the work is already done for you!
Happy Quilting!

Dinner, or Brunch?

2011-03-19T12:12:00.001-06:00

Another few days without sewing a single stitch. I have been working on some new designs and doing some business stuff. So, rather than have no new post (which would be boring) I am going to show you what I fixed for dinner last night. (YUMMY)

I don't know what these are called, but I have dubbed them Quiche Cups. I glanced at a photo in a magazine at the checkout counter and thought I'd give it a try. Just take some ham slices, line a muffin tin (spray with Pam first), then I put a spoonful of pesto, some mushrooms, cheese cubes, and filled it up with beaten eggs. Of course you have to add a little seasoning--then bake at 325 for 20 min. or so until set. You can put whatever you want in these. I'm thinking some yellow or orange peppers would be good, too.

Well, that's all for now. I promise I will get back to some quilty things soon. Meanwhile, enjoy!

BEWARE the Ides of March

2011-03-15T16:03:00.000-06:00

Just to be sure, I am not going to the theatre today. Or the Senate for that matter. How did it get to be the middle of March so soon???

Why just yesterday it was January, and I had plans for the new year--just as soon as I get caught up on a few things, I will start them. Then here we are in March---the THIRD month and I am still trying to catch up. Do you ever feel like life is just racing by?

Especially in the quilt world--where we can get so many ideas and plans in our heads, but the execution of such plans is much more slow and deliberate. It is precisely because of this fact that I try to enjoy the process of creating a quilt as much or more than the completion. That's when we are motivated to - design this block or use a little of that color, or add some applique and so on. That's where the creation happens--where the joy is for me.

How about you? Do you enjoy the journey or the destination?

Dyed In The Wool

2011-03-12T21:01:00.001-07:00

Color . . . . rich, saturated, yummy color.
Today I decided to do something just for fun. I called my sister Margaret and asked if she wanted to come dye wool with me. Me and several $$$ worth of Kool Aid. It all started several weeks ago. I had heard that you can dye wool with Kool Aid, but I had never tried it. One of our projects at Quilt Retreat this year uses wool, and I decided to give it a try.

First, you need wool.
So I made a trip to our local thrift store--D.I. I bought everything I could find that was 100% wool. That included several blazers, one suit, and one coat. (It is really inexpensive.) Then I took the scissors to them. Cut them all apart and felted the pieces by washing in really hot water with soap and then rising in cold and drying in a hot dryer.

Now we were ready for color. Talia and Erin came in to join us. The more the merrier!

We started with several flavors of Kool Aid. We even used a few packets of FlavorAid. We just mixed up each packet with water (Don't add sugar!) so we could see what color it was.

We soaked the wool pieces in hot water with a splash of vinegar to get the fibers ready to accept color. (It's a good idea to use rubber gloves.) Notice all the colors we started with. I tried to find wool garments that had little color, so I could over-dye them, but a few of them were quite dark gray or tan, and they also turned out beautiful colors.

In a glass bowl, we mixed up several packets of color with some hot water--enough to cover the pieces.

Then we zapped them in the microwave for 2 minutes, took them out for a stir, then 2 more minutes, until most or all of the dye is absorbed, and the water is clear.

We rinsed them in running water then off to the dryer. This also helps to felt them more so that they won't fray. By the time we had finished we had sooooo many beautiful pieces! Check out all these colors. And some of them are still in the dryer, so we even had more.

Everything from deep purples, reds, pinks, and oranges. . .

through gold, yellow and greens. (So many shades of green!)

All the way to blues and grays.

My camera does not do these colors justice. They are so rich and beautiful! It makes me want to design a wool project right now. Don't you just love how you can see the texture and the weave in some of these fabrics? Of course you can buy white wool by the yard and do this, but when you use fabrics found in jackets and coats, you get some really great pieces. The tweeds and herringbone weaves were especially beautiful. And starting with wool that is gray or tan can give you more grown up colors than just the pure Kool Aid colors. (Notice I just used the term grown up and Kool Aid to describe the same event.)
Well, even if it wasn't grown up, we sure had fun!

Diary of a Procrastinator

2011-03-08T23:51:00.000-07:00

It has been several days since I last posted. Sorry about that. I have been a little bit busy. (More about that later.) Last Thursday I taught a class at a local shop. We are doing a block of the month--well actually, it is a row of the month. This was our first class, and we have 4 to go, so there is still time to join us if you would like. We are doing the Garden Rows quilt from my book, Stitched Together.

We just did the first row, and next time we will do two more. It's a fun, simple quilt with a lot of character. Last year at quilt retreat we did this quilt in two different color-ways. Here's Maika's in the alternate colors:

Sorry, not a very good picture, but it really is darling in person. This close up shows the colors a little bit better, and look at that beautiful quilting!

Maika is one of my nieces. She does all her own quilting on her home Bernina. No long arm for her. Why would you need one if you can quilt free motion like that? And this from a gal who said she really didn't want to come to quilt retreat. (The first year---after that, she was hooked.)
The class is at Quilting Cottage in American Fork, Utah. It is taught on the first Thursday of the month at 6:30 pm. Come join us, we have a good time and learn a lot!

What have I been so busy with, you ask? Well, orders of course, always, but then I realized that I only had a few days to get a very important quilt done for a big event. Sound familiar? I think I have done this before. Problem is---it usually works out, so I continue to procrastinate.

Well this time it didn't work out. I just will not get done in time. So sad. Here's a few of the blocks. Can you guess what I am working on?

I will try to get the center section done tomorrow before the big event in the evening. But there is soooo much to do. I need a personal assistant. Preferably one who can quilt.
When this quilt is all done, I will post some more photos. Hopefully that won't be too long.

Count Down...

2011-03-03T21:57:00.001-07:00

Have you ever been so excited for an upcoming event that you made a paper chain to count down the days? (since you were 8?)

This is apparently not a "normal" college apartment. Nope, not normal at all. There is a sewing room upstairs and I spotted this stack of quilts in the living room.

Looks like the people who live here are QUILTERS! A little bit unusual in the social world of college life. But these girls are on the ball! And what are they counting down to?
Why the Family Pieces Quilt Retreat, of course.

Yes, it almost that time again. One of the best times of the year. I just sent my registration off (aren't we official) and signed up for 3 of the 4 optional classes, as well as the main group project.
I am very excited about the main project because it involves wool this year. I love working with wool! The colors and texture are so rich and inviting! And what a joy to applique. This will be really fun. We are making a pieced cotton quilt with wool applique. I will of definitely post some photos of the finished projects when I get back.

But for now it is a few links away. 31 to be exact. But who's counting?

Well FINALLY!

2011-02-28T22:49:00.000-07:00

Today I picked up my first order of finished Poke-A-Dots. It was a very small order, just enough to keep me happy for a few days, then later this week I should get the balance of the order.
Once I pick them up, I have to package them, but hopefully they will be shipping out pretty soon!
FINALLY!

This has taken soooo much longer than I expected. (Obviously) Perhaps I should have consulted my resident manufacturing engineer (DH) about the time line, but I was (as always) optimistic.
Overly optimistic.
So I am a few months behind. I can only do what I can do.

So, you ask, what do you do with a Poke-A-Dot?

Well, you stick it on your finger, and use it push your needle so that you don't get POKED!

Great for stitching on bindings, hand applique, even just sewing on a button. And they come in a cute little tin, which is perfect for holding your thread and needles, too. So when you are on the go, this is all you need to grab.

Sometimes if I am working on an applique project I need many colors of thread with me. I don't really want to be carting around all those big spools of thread, so I wind thread onto bobbins. That way I can take lots of colors and still fit them all into my little tin!

And they are re-stickable. Just take it off and stick it back on the tin until the next time you need it. You can use them a few times, until they don't stick any more. Better yet, I don't even bother taking it off. You can do all sorts of things with the little Dot stuck on your finger and you won't even remember it is there!
Like address a package...

Play a tune...

Eat a snack...

Hug a grandchild... (use your imagination on this one. I find it hard to take a picture of myself hugging a grandchild when my arms are full of grandchild.)

Any way, you get the idea! And these little wonders are "grippy" too, so they can PULL your needle when you get in a tough spot. The cute texture on top makes it so the needle doesn't slip off and gives you a lot of control.

There are 18 dots in each tin. That's enough to bind 4 quilts, applique 12 blocks and sew on 17 buttons. (At least in our independent marketing study. Results may vary.)

To those of you who already know all about Poke-A-Dots, sorry to repeat myself. But I am so excited about this new little notion! I will have these available on my website within the week. You can also watch for them to show up in quilt shops. Soon all the cool quilters will be wearing Poke-A-Dots!

No Place Like Home

2011-02-24T09:56:00.001-07:00

Madame Samm at Stash Manicure made this name tag for me. Isn't it cute?! I like it a lot, but I'm not sure when I should wear it, so if you see me at the grocery store wearing a name tag, you will know why.
(Editorial comment: Wouldn't it be nice if people wore name tags? We would never wonder who we were talking to, and we could call everyone by name. I bet people would be nicer to each other if they knew their names.)

They are having a drawing over at the STASH for some of my fabric. Check it out because you could win! And it includes one of my patterns.

I feel like I have been gone a lot lately. I need to get back to my regular routine. (Someone sure needs to clean this kitchen, anyway.) It is nice to just do all the everyday things. The mundane, seemingly insignificant things we do is what life is made of. It's true, isn't it. There really is no place like home. Just being in your own space with all your loved ones around you and your stuff so you can do what you like and what you need to. Sigh. I'll get back to it soon.

The other day I gave a trunk show in Alpine, Utah. We had so much fun. My sister and a few of my nieces gave me some of their quilts (well, loaned me..) to show along with mine. That always makes it so fun. I wish I had taken some pictures, but I was busy talking. I talked a little bit about my family quilt retreat, and some of the quilts we have made, including the round robin groups that we have. (I will have to do a tutorial post on Round Robins sometime.) That is so much fun!!! Here's an example of a round robin quilt. I started with the center block and sent it on to the next person, she set it on point and sent it on, etc, etc. Then at the end of the year we each get a quilt back. I LOVE the quilt I got back. And it has been worked on by some of my favorite people!

Next time I do a trunk show you will have to come see the rest of these beautiful quilts. (If you live nearby, of course.)
Well, I have a few mundane things to do, so I better go.

A Sweeeeeeet Day

2011-02-22T09:19:00.000-07:00

This is the newest member of our family. Meet Eli. Isn't he a doll?! Such a sweetie! We are so happy he is here and all is well! I have had his brothers for a week and we have had the best time. Grandchildren are the best!

I am in New Mexico for a few hours. I brought the boys back home, and now I am heading back to Utah because I get to give a trunk show tonight in Alpine, Utah at the Alpine Quilt group. So if you are local, I look forward to seeing you there.

Don't forget. 8 pm at the red church.

ONE OF THE FAMILY

2011-02-21T09:49:00.000-07:00

I picked up my sewing machine at the repair shop the other day. I had to take it in because a broken needle fell down in the bobbin case and I couldn't reach it to get it out. (That is a whole other story.) It needed a tune up anyway. When I took it in I had it in a case and all packed up nice, but they don't want to keep any superfluous covers or cords, so I left only the machine. When I went back to get it, I didn't have the case with me.

Please tell me that I am not the only one who buckles their machine in when traveling. Some people around here think that is so funny.

But it's just normal, right? After all we try to protect the ones we love, don't we?

Prize Winner

2011-02-18T17:26:00.000-07:00

If your name is

Dolores

and you are from Toronto, Canada,

and you posted on my blog on 2/17/11 . . .

you are the WINNER!

Email me your address so I can send these patterns to you!
(jill@jillilystudio.com)

LOST and FOUND

2011-02-17T21:51:00.000-07:00

I lost two quilts this week. Not surprising with all that has been going on. Thankfully, someone picked them up for me at the retreat and brought them home. I went to Bonnie's house today to get them. "Carousel" and "Wildflower Melody" were neatly folded and ready to come home, along with a sewing machine cord that my sister left. (You'd think we were related or something.)

I can't believe I forgot them! They were hanging up in a vendors booth, and I left before she did, so I completely spaced it. All's well that ends well. They are back home again.

And, there was a bonus--
while I was at Bonnie's, I noticed this hanging on the wall...

Isn't that the cutest bunch of buttons you have ever seen? Each button is sewn onto two small pieces of wool. Just imagine using some of the buttons from your mother's button jar, or some from your children's clothing. While we're at it, lets use wool from dad's suits and bits from that Sunday coat your mom made every year. (As if we had any of those things any more. But after all, we are imagining!) We could even use cotton of course, but the wool is so textural, and you can see the fibers. Well anyway, I just loved this and thought you might like to see it.

**Now leaving the imagination and back to reality**

This has been my reality this week. I have been a kit machine! I had so many orders for the Around the Town Kit in American Patchwork and Quilting, and I thought I was all ready, but alas. I was short on a couple of fabrics. I had planned to substitute a different fabric, but everyone who ordered wanted it "just like in the magazine."

So I searched and found,
ordered and waited,
for fabric.

When it finally came, I was gone...first to the retreat, and then to visit my new grandson and his family.
So now that I am back to reality, I have been cutting and shipping like crazy. (Incidently, if you are one who is waiting, thank you so much for your patience!)

These kits are just too cute! They look good enough to just leave as is--you won't even have to sew this kit up to enjoy it! Perhaps I have been looking at these too long, but I think they are just darling!

Especially when they are all tied up and ready to go.

On another note, I want to say THANK YOU to all of my readers! I so appreciate you taking the time to visit with me here and especially when you leave a comment. I received so many kind words over on the Stash Manicure post, and it really means a lot to me. Please let me know if you ever have any quilty questions or ideas. I would welcome the input.
Remember, the prize drawing is tomorrow at NOON. Enter on the previous post.
Talk to you later-
Jill

Greet the WEEK with a PRIZE

2011-02-15T22:49:00.000-07:00

I have had the craziest week! First, a retreat. Teach a few classes. Make some friends. Meet some cousins. Head home. Get a phone call. Daughter in labor. Hurry and re-pack. Leave for New Mexico. Tend grandkids. Meet new grandson. Come home, bringing grandkids with me. Play, play, play. Cut more kits. Ship. Guest Post. Post. WHeww.

(I have a guest post over on Stash Manicure today. Be sure to check it out.)

Last Wednesday my sister and I left our homes in northern Utah to go to a quilting retreat at Ruby's Inn in Bryce Canyon. That's about 4 hours away. We met two more sisters there, one from Mesa, Arizona and one from St. George, Utah. There were about 250 quilters at this retreat, and boy did we have fun! Every noon and night we were treated with a trunk show from some wonderful quilters! I taught 2 classes, and there was plenty of time to work on other projects as well. It was nice to be at a retreat and not be in charge! I actually retreated!

Here are a few photos that I snapped with my phone. These cute ladies are "Two Peas in a Pod." They did a trunk show for us one night. It was fabulous! I love their designs--so fresh and so fun.

Here is another look at some of their trunk show. They had so many quilts to show us that I became distracted and forgot to snap some pictures. (Imagine that.)

Here is a darling little "Block of the Day" project that was offered by one of the vendors--Main Street Quilt Cottage. They even used a teeny tiny bit of one of my fabrics from the Thistledown line in their kits. I joked that they should have at least acknowledged me somehow--and they put my card on the quilt!! (Can you spot the Thistledown?)

Now this was one of the best parts. One of my students from last year brought her FINISHED project from the class I taught. Isn't LuAnne's version of "Trellis" fabulous!!?

Last year I gave a trunk show at this event all about my family retreat. So this year I was delighted to hear from so many quilters who have started their own family quilting retreats. Wow--good for you, ladies! Isn't it fun!

Now because I have had such a crazy week, I think we need another prize drawing! Don't you? So this time lets give away some patterns. How about a collection of five of my newest designs.

That's a $58 PRIZE to one lucky follower. Sign up as a follower, and leave a comment so I can enter you in the drawing. Then be sure to check back to see who the winner is! I will choose a winner on Friday the 18th--at noon.
Happy Quilting!

How Many People Does It Take To. . . ?

2011-02-06T19:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a busy day in my studio. (I use the term loosely, it's really just a room, and a small one at that. But it has functioned as the studio in Jillily Studio for several years now.) I spent most of the day just trying to find surface area to work on. I am still cutting kits for the "Around the Town" quilt in American Patchwork and Quilting. To those of you who are still waiting... I am still cutting, and also waiting for more fabric to arrive. I think last week's snow / ice / cold storms held things up across the midwest. Several of my suppliers were closed a few days. So be patient, maybe the rest of the fabric will come tomorrow!

How many people can you get in one sewing room? We each had a quadrant on the cutting/ironing table. Sometimes I wonder about the safety of having so many sharp / hot objects in such close proximity!

Andrea (my neice) was working on the quilt from the corals and creams I showed you last week. This quilt is going to be so cute! I can't wait to see it finished. I will show it to you after it is all quilted. Andrea's mom is one of my long arm quilters, Tori. So you know it will be a work of art when it is done.

Talia (my daughter) was working on the quilt she had planned with her fabric stack from last week also. She got the whole thing pieced, and even added borders. Here's a shot of just the center. I told you it was a modified version of one the quilts ("Hugs and Kisses") from my book. But I think it is even cuter than the original!

Erin (daughter-in-law) was making a little tiny apron for Emmy to wear. It turned out so darling. But I can't get Ems to hold still long enough to take a picture, so this one is blurry, as usual. She is ready to go cook something! Knowing her, it will probably be noodles.

Have you been sewing this week? What are you working on? I want to see pictures. Some of you promised me at Road to California that you would send photos of your finished projects. I don't have any yet. Still waiting.

Post Groundhog Post

2011-02-03T08:00:00.000-07:00

Well, yesterday was Groundhog Day.

I should have given you the heads up yesterday morning, but I did not remember until...
I kept repeatedly cutting kit after kit, after kit. . . . hummm seems like I have done this before....

Around the Town Kit

That is a waaaay cute kit, by the way. If you have ordered one (and many have) I am working on yours today! But I am still waiting on some more fabric which I ordered and is probably stuck on I-70 or frozen in a warehouse, or maybe they didn't even process the order yet because the plants were all closed! But I will eventually get everything I need, and ship them off to you for your quilting bliss.

So I watched the movie while I was folding.

I also went to see how the production of my new Poke-A-Dots is coming along. That was very exciting. I have had one stuck to my finger for almost a whole day now. Here is a pic of one of my new molds.

And here are some sheets of Poke-A-Dots in the curing oven... nice and toasty in there.

By late afternoon, it was warming up and the wind had calmed down.

This morning when I took my son to school it was a balmy 4 degrees. That's fahrenheit, mind you. I think we are getting warmer! It is going to be a good day.

By the way, best wishes to all my friends who are fighting the weather battle in other parts of the US and our friends in Australia who have the opposite problems. I am thinking of all of you!

Oh, and I almost forgot. I wanted to say congratulations to Talia, who got an A on her Stats test! See, I told you that computer case would work wonders for a Statistics class!

Summer Dreaming

2011-02-01T18:49:00.000-07:00

I understand that it is a very cold wintry day over much of the USA today. The storm covers 31 states. I have had so many orders today because people are just stuck at home, longing for a quilt project to work on! Around here we just have wind and very cold temperatures, so far. When it gets below zero, it is time to stay in! Hopefully we will get some snow out of this eventually.

View from my front door

The wind has been blowing so hard that it blew all the snow away in the front yard.

View from my back door

But we still have snow in the back yard. What is the point of winter, if there is no snow? If it is going to be that cold, it might as well be pretty! I have always loved having four seasons because my yard work is covered up half of the time. (And I do love gardening, too, but I get tired.)

I think we need something spring-y. A little something interesting.... It is a little early, but I think I will show you some of the swatches from my next fabric line. Shhhh-don't tell anyone. This line doesn't even have a name yet, and it won't be out in stores until ????? Don't know the timeline on that either. But it's OK to take a peek.

I finalized all the colors today, and I have a quilt designed using it. That is hard for me to do. I can't seem to design quilts unless I have the fabric in front of me. But this one has been rattling around in my brain for a while, waiting for the right fabric to come along.

This photo is not great, but I wanted to show you the backgrounds that go with the line. I always have trouble finding a good basic background for my designs, so I decided to include some in this line. I think you will love the white with gray. One is swirly and one more graphic. I like to include a weave of some kind in each of my lines. This one has a herringbone. Elizabeth's Letters has a houndstooth. They add so much texture to a quilt.

I can't wait to show you the whole line all together! It is so fun! Greens and orange, yellows, pinks, and reds. Looks like summer to me. Can't wait!
Oh--by the way, I have a post over on the Henry Glass Blog. (I think you have to click on the "NEW BLOG" button. Go read it so I won't be the only one with no readers! Thank you readers-- You make my day!

$60 Later....

2011-01-28T19:09:00.001-07:00

Today I went to the fabric store with my daughter and my niece. (OK, well, actually, several fabric stores.) They just stopped by to get me to go with them. (Or to get my wallet to go with them.)
Anyway, they were successful. How can I resist a trip to the quilt shop?

And what were they shopping for? They were looking for fabrics for specific projects. Talia found this cute fabric, but we could only find a fat quarter. We got it anyway and she is going to fussy cut around some of the cute sayings and motifs and applique them on the quilt top.

I loved this one: "If we were meant to pop out of bed, we'd all sleep in toasters."

Then she put together a whole collection of various fun fabrics to make the quilt top. It is going to be really cute. She is using one of the patterns from my book, modified a bit. I will have to show it to you when she gets it done. Now that's a happy bunch of fabric!

What else did we find? Well Andrea was looking for more pieces to go with her fabulous new quilt, yet unnamed, that she has been planning for a while. She has been collecting fabrics, starting with a darling coral or terra-cotta piece that Talia made her laptop case out of. When Andrea saw this, she had an idea for her new quilt.

Laptop case by Talia (with help from Mom)

Talia's laptop case has been half way around the world and through several semesters of college. Hint to new freshmen: A case this cute can make even Statistics bearable!

Talia and Andrea cut kits for me and I pay them in fabric. That's a deal for all of us! Andrea picked that main fabric first, and a few coordinates at the studio. We took these pieces with us to the quilt shop to look for more to add to the mix. This is what we found:

Andrea's fabric group

Isn't that a great group!? I can't wait to see the finished project! Andrea says that she has everything she needs for the quilt now, and so far she has spent only $11 on it! (Plus hours of cutting, but it is so much fun working in my studio! HA!)

The colors look a little weird in the last photo, but trust me, they are beautiful together. I would have taken a better picture, but Andrea had to skedaddle, so we didn't have time. But you get the idea.

Isn't it great to see these young people enjoying sewing and quilting?! Do you know a young quilter?
I hope you are passing along your creativity to the next generation.

Mail Mania

2011-01-26T15:02:00.000-07:00

I went to the mail box, and what did I find? My new issue of American Patchwork and Quilting has arrived! Early, even. I have been waiting for this.

It's the April 2011 issue (on newsstands Feb 1) and I know what is inside! At least I know part of it.

There it is. Around the Town by Jill Finley of Jillily Studio. Right there on page 57.

I haven't got the quilt back from the editors at APQ yet, but when I do, I will post some close-ups of the quilting and details. Actually, there are several photos in the magazine, too. My machine quilter (Tori) did a wonderful job, and I would like you to see it.

I better go put everything away--two posts in one day is probably a record!

POSH PATTERN PROBLEM

2011-01-26T09:29:00.000-07:00

NOTICE FOR THOSE WHO PURCHASED

"POSH PORTFOLIO"

AT ROAD TO CALIFORNIA

We had a few patterns that were printed wrong! Some of the patterns were missing all of the even pages. So check your pattern, and if you have only pages 1, 3, 5, and 7, we need to fix that!
Send me an email or give me a call, I will email the pattern to you. I am SO SORRY!

This was one of our best selling patterns--because it is so fun! So when you get your project done, please send me a photo because I would like to show it on my blog.

Back to Basics

2011-01-24T21:25:00.001-07:00

I'm back from California and now there are tons of orders to fill. We had a great time, and it was so fun to rub shoulders with all those quilters! I met some great people, some I knew before, and some new ones. My sister-in-law, (and long-arm quilter) Tori and her friend Judy came to help me in my booth. I was so glad they were there! I was swamped! I could not have done it without their help.

The booth before the show opened

I never know how busy these shows are going to be, so it is hard to judge how many kits to cut and patterns to take! So if you were there and I was out of kits (after the first day) I can cut you one and send it. You can order it on my website, or if you don't see what you want there, just send me an email and I will get it out to you. (jill@jillilystudio.com)

I also have plenty of Thistledown fabric left, if you need to order some. I don't have it listed as separate pieces on my website, but I can cut you any size you need if you just send an email or call me.
(801) 234-9884.

Thistledown

My camera broke and I took some photos with my phone, but they are sooooo blurry! I will show you a few anyway because I don't have anything else, and I want to show you how much fun Road to California was. Please ignore the blurries:

Raquel from Stars and Scraps--she sells my glue and it was so nice to see her again!

Raquel's booth was just a row away from mine, but I hardly got to see her because we were both so busy. Her booth won BEST BOOTH, so you know it was really cute!

Dana with some customers in her booth. She is a fellow Henry Glass designer!

Lazy Daisy Cottage is in St. George, Utah. What a cute little shop, and it looks like she brought the whole store with her! Her booth was a hoppin' place.

In my booth

Above you will see me with my new friend Jana and my old friend Barbara from Quilt Soup. (Sorry, Barbara, I didn't mean that YOU are old, just our friendship! We have been hanging around doing this quilt thing together for years!) We both design for Henry Glass fabrics, and we both have books out with Kansas City Star.

I wish I had some pics of my good helpers, Judy and Tori, but I guess I will have to wait to see if Tori posts some on her blog! (I think I need a new camera!)

One of the big hits in my booth was my fabric. Elizabeth's Letters was in high demand and I don't really have too much left. It is in quilt stores now, so go get some before it is GONE! I have a quilt coming out in just a few days in American Patchwork and Quilting, so I have to save the fabric I have to fill orders for that kit. Watch for it to hit newsstands on Feb 1. The quilt is called "Around the Town." I am tempted to give you a peek:

That great quilting was done by Tori of That's So Quilt. I know you can't see it very well here, but soon we will see it in print!

Road To...

2011-01-16T23:47:00.001-07:00

First of all I need to announce the winner of the little quiz last week.
Marian, who posted on 1/12 at 6:26 am--YOU ARE THE WINNER.
Send me an email with a mailing address and I will send you some of these delicious fat quarters!
The correct answer was: the cream background, the dark blue and med. blue in the flower applique, and the darkest green, which WAS from the Thistledown line, and some of you got that right, too!

Here's a whole bunch of fats bundled up to go to the Road To California Quilt conference. I will be there in just a few days--with tons of great stuff to display and sell in my booth.


Elizabeth's Letters fat quarter Bundles

I will also be giving FREE applique demos in my booth every day. Last year we had so much fun and met so many great quilters. I really hope they will be back to see me again this year. My booth is in a different room this year, so be sure to come find me! If you are one of my blog readers and come see me in my booth, mention the password (clock) and I will give you 10% off on any patterns or kits!
Last time I tried this, I only had ONE winner. I hope this time I have waaay more!
I have been cutting kits and fabric bundles for DAYS, and I have many more to cut and all kinds of great quilty stuff to get ready. I am looking forward to seeing all my quilting friends, and sharing some ideas with them.


Meadow quilt kit

The quilt conference is at the Ontario, CA convention center, and runs Thursday through Sunday. Visit the link above for details and times. I leave on Tuesday, so I probably won't be able to post until I get back home, but I will have lots of inspirational pictures to share with you so be sure to check back!
See you in the sunshine!

"One of these fabrics is not like the other..." (with music in the background)

2011-01-11T19:49:00.000-07:00

I finally got the boxes opened, and found a place on my shelf for a few bolts. It has taken me so long because I just really don't have any more room in my little sewing space.

Fabric bolts are everywhere. Under the cutting table, on top of the cutting table, inside the red cabinet, against the wall, under the design wall, and stacked on top of cupboards. I guess I need to start SELLING!

These extra bolts are for quilt kits being offered in the next American Patchwork magazine. They have re-named that quilt "Around The Town," previously known to my readers as "Blackberry Village."
I haven't got the quilt back from APQ yet, but when it comes, I will show you some pics.

I did a quilt right before Market called "Meadow." I don't think I have shown you before, because it wasn't done until I got to Houston, and I have been so busy ever since. So here is a look at what I made using just the blues and greens from the "Elizabeth's Letters" line.

You can see the letter fabric better in this picture. I love that houndstooth pattern, too. So versatile, and great for applique.

In this photo you will notice a few fabrics that are not in the "Letters" line. As you know, I think it is really hard to use only the fabrics from one line in a project. Adding a little here and there from my cupboard or the quilt shop just helps to add dimension and more interest. I find if you use only one line, the quilt tends to look 'flat.' Not always, but usually. (Plus, I could get bored with just one line!)

So if you can tell me which fabrics are NOT from the Elizabeth's Letter's line, you could win some fat quarters! Make a comment and tell me which ones! I will pick a winner. I'll give you until Friday, 1/14/11 at noon. Ready, set, go!

The Letters are Here!

2011-01-08T00:54:00.001-07:00

Look what was on my front porch yesterday!

Six boxed of Letters. See, I peeked:

I have been waiting and talking about this line for so long that it seems like I have already had all this fabric, and used it up! But this is the first look I have at actual BOLTS of fabric. I guess it has started arriving in the stores as well because I had a call today from a shop in Maryland needing to order patterns to go in their kits. What fun! It is still shocking to me to go into a store and see MY designs sitting right there on their shelves. I have to pinch myself.

As you know, this line is particularly special to me because it features the letter from my Great Grandmother to my Grandmother. I bet she had no idea when she penned that note in 1898 that it would someday go around the world and be seen and admired by so many women! Just in case you want to see the original letter, I am copying a previous post I wrote about the line:

Posted by Jillily Studio at 4:33:00 PM

I was just working on my new fabric line which will come out next spring. I am using a wonderful hand written letter from my Great-Grandmother to my grandmother as one of the design elements. It was a farewell letter written to her daughter when she left Switzerland to immigrate to America at age 18. It is a sweet tender letter, and the penmanship is beautiful. Anyway, I was thinking about how we don’t write anything anymore. In just a few generations that has basically been lost. I did save one note my mom wrote to me when I was a little girl...

“Dear Miss Jill, When I send word for you to come home, young lady, I mean it....”

It was hand delivered to me by my younger brother while I was playing in the neighbor’s yard. Somehow I don’t think it rises to the level of a family heirloom.

Things I write to my kids are usually done on a white board or on the back of an envelope as I run out the door. Part of it is that I am not sure that I want anything that I might write down saved for generations to come. It is a little intimidating. Maybe that is why I have a hard time writing in a journal. (I say as I post this blog for the whole world to see...)

Sorry for repeating that but I have a lot of new readers, so they might not know the story behind this fabric line.

Anyway, I will post more photos when I get these boxes opened up and find a place for all of that fabric. My sewing room will have to be REORGANIZED!

INSIDE OUT

2011-01-05T09:42:00.001-07:00

Looks cold, doesn't it? The wind around here is so strong that it has blown away a lot of the snow. These mountains always look so silent when they are covered with snow. It is a good day to stay in my sewing room.

Early Sunday morning when I drove my honey to the airport, the temperature was 1. We have dipped below zero a few times this year, but I have blissfully been inside a nice warm house, so that's OK. I think we are going to see some warming this week, anyway. We will be up in the high twenties!

OK, on to the good stuff. Sewing and fabric and such.
This is my good example of what not to do. I didn't really like the fabric I had chosen to put in those places, but I thought,
"It will be fine. When I get it all together, I will like it better."

But, alas, not so. It was really bugging me, so before I got any farther, I had to rip it out. Now that is going to be fun to replace! Twenty little pieces, less than an inch. WHY didn't I listen to my heart when I first made the little blocks? Or even when I was cutting out that fabric? I had a feeling that it wouldn't work.

I have a little wall hanging that I made years ago. It has one piece of fabric in it that I do NOT like. I didn't like it when I pieced it, but everyone said it was "needed in the quilt." Now every time I see it, my eye goes right to the piece I didn't like. I have thought about ripping it out now (too hard) or appliqueing over it, (too much work), or painting/dying it (ridiculous), but I guess it will stay forever. A reminder to DO WHAT YOU LIKE!

So much for reminders. . . I did it again.

I Have Notion...a NEW ONE!

2010-12-26T23:55:00.000-07:00

I had a wonderful Christmas, and I hope you did too! We have all been gathered around together eating and playing, and eating, and visiting, and eating, etc. We missed one of our daughters and her cute family, but everyone else was here, so we have had a houseful of fun. I love to have all the family here. When they go to their own homes, we are so lonely, even though there are still 5 of us here. Weird.
I guess I am just used to a lot of people.

I need to get back to quilting on Monday. There are orders to fill and still some work to do before the end of the year. I have been working really hard on the Poke-A-Dots. You will love these little dots. They are great. They are still in production, so I don't have a final photo of the finished product, but I will soon.

What is a POKE-A-DOT?!?!

They are little sticky thimbles that you place on your fingertip. Place them anywhere you need them so you don't get poked!

Everyone needs a POKE-A-DOT when hand sewing--stitching on that binding, or sewing on a button, hand applique and embroidery, etc, etc. They push the needle through.

They stick in place until you take them off.
You can re-stick them several times, then just throw them away and start a new one.
They come in fun colors.
They come with 18 DOTS packaged in a cute little round tin. (Great to put your needles and thread in there, too!)

They have a cute design on the top to give texture so your needle won't slip. (I think you may recognize the design.)

They are made in the USA of durable polyurethane.
They not only protect your finger, but they are "grippy" so they help you to pull your needle through the tough spots.

I can't sew without a POKE-A-DOT on my finger. I am addicted. I think you will be too-- soon.

I sure got a lot of orders at Market for these little wonders, so they will start showing up in quilt shops very soon. Remember, the photos above are of prototypes only because I don't have any final products in my studio yet. I am getting the new labels this week, so they will soon be packaged up and off to a shop near you. As soon as I get the final products I will show you what to look for.

PARTY!

2010-12-19T23:10:00.000-07:00

Here's another easy/cheap Christmas decoration. I do this every year and I never get tired of it.

Just take a tall glass vase. Fill with clear, cold water. Add a package of fresh cranberries. They FLOAT. Tuck in a small votive candle or two. (What am I saying, I used three--but sometimes I use larger floating candles and just use one. They aren't really necessary because the cranberries keep the candles afloat anyway.) That's all there is to it! You can add some greenery, or display several of these together in different sizes. They are really striking and beautiful.

We had a party last night. I realized that although I had started my Christmas letter, it probably wasn't going to get finished or mailed. So I invited a bunch of families over for a little Christmas Open House. It was so fun just to say hello and Merry Christmas, and share a few snacks/treats.
Did I say a few?
Perhaps I should amend that. I wish I had taken a picture. The buffet table was loaded with yummy holiday food. We made some, and everyone brought more.. so that make a lot! It was wonderful. (Just wish I had some of those stuffed mushrooms left!)

Here's photo of a few leftover cookies. They were so cute that I wanted to show you.

Gingerbread Snowflakes

My daughter-in-law, Erin made these yummy gingerbread cookies. They were soft and spicy and oh-so-cute.

Next was a plate of these DARLING snowmen! Daughter-in-law Katie made them. Aren't they so cute! She just frosted sugar cookies with white frosting and added a marshmallow and painted on the details. I wish I had taken a better picture. They were really fun.

Melting Snowmen

There's only a few of these left, but they were easy and yummy. I just placed grated Parmesan Cheese in a wreath shape on parchment paper. Added chopped parsley and some red bell pepper berries. Melt and toast in the oven for a few minutes. These would be great served floating on some soup or just to eat with all the other snacky foods. (I finished these off this morning.)

Parmesan Wreaths

We always make a few traditional Swiss dishes. Here's a plate of Bratzeli. It's a yummy egg-based cookie that I cook in a Bratzeli iron. My mom always flavored it with Anise seeds, so it has a licorice flavor. I also do a lemon variety with lemon zest. These are a must with a cup of cocoa!

Well, no fabric in this post. But food is a close second. Don't you think?

Oh, wait! We did have some fabric: After the party was over, JoJo was feeling a little stressed that everyone had gone and taken all of the favors with them, so I said, let's go make your Christmas pillow case quick. And so we did. It only took a few minutes, and he was so delighted that he went right to bed.

JoJo's Christmas pillowcase

He has been napping on it off and on all day. That's the life.

Shop Feature--First in a Series

2010-12-16T12:01:00.000-07:00

I'm home from my little jaunt up north. Not too far, and worth the drive, because that is a darling shop! Fran and RoLayne at Village Dry Goods have really done it up good. We had a great Christmas Party and talked about quilts and fabrics, and I got all these views of the shop to show to you.

Here's Fran selling a kit of my "Daisy Dot" quilt.

This little cupboard is stuffed full of wonderful fun, felty, needled things.

Every corner is filled with great projects and ideas.

I LOVE all these wool pin cushions! They are so cute you just want to eat them!

Another little cupboard on top of the fabric shelves.

Hey, there's my fabric, Thistledown sitting by some of my quilts.

Stitchery, too! Isn't that great. I love embroidery, and I love all the threads. Sometimes I buy them just for all the colors, and I never use them. They are just plain pretty!

Right by the front register is this fun Christmas quilt using another Henry Glass fabric line. This one is from Heather Mulder Petersen. I see a kit there, too.

Thanks to all the folks that stopped by to see me and get a book signed. We had a great time, and I loved sharing my quilts with you!

Come See Me!

2010-12-14T18:13:00.000-07:00

The girls at Village Dry Goods in Brigham City, Utah have a wonderful shop and are planning a party!
On Wednesday, Dec. 15 (that's tomorrow) they are having a Christmas Party complete with

and

wassail,

and of course,

FABRIC!

I will be there at 1:00 pm to show a bunch of quilts, and sign a bunch of books!

If you live nearby please stop in and see us. I'm not sure if anyone from Brigham City reads my blog, so let's just check and see. If you read this and come to the party, tell me the secret code word:

Popcorn,

and I will give you a free pattern! I wonder how many I will need to take?

Snow and the Lucky One

2010-12-13T11:08:00.002-07:00

Just now I got this message in my email box:

The We are happy to announce the grand prize winner of our Big Give-a-way!
Erica from Sweet Grass, MT.

To quote her she said "Oh my gosh!!! I
am bouncing in my chair!!!"
We thank you all for playing our little word game, and wish all of you
the Happiest of Holiday's!!
A giant thank you to all of our designers that worked so hard to make
this Blog Hop a success!!

Henry Glass & Co.

That's exciting. I will get my prize off to her tomorrow!

I have a few pictures of the much requested room of snow flakes. (Sorry, Minnesota, you are probably sick of snow.) I hung them in my music room--it's just off the living room and the ceilings aren't vaulted, making it a little easier. One house we lived in had high vaulted ceilings everywhere, so we hung the snowflakes in the main hallway. It was still beautiful.

I put up three small trees in here. They are decorated very simply with just lights and silver jingle bells, and a few light green balls. Some silver leaves here and there and shiny green ribbon finish it off. Very simple.

This is a pretty small room, so it isn't hard to cover the ceiling with flakes. But if you have a large room, you could try doing just around the border of the room, or maybe just above the Christmas tree, etc.

It really looks nice at night with the candles and twinkly lights, but my photo didn't work, so you have to see it in the day.

The snowflakes don't just hang there still. They turn slowly around with the air movement of people walking around, and heat off the candles, fireplace and the furnace. Of course, pictures are never as good as the real thing. But you get the idea.

Have you made any of the projects from the Holiday Project Parade? I'd love to hear about it.

Sleepy Fabric

2010-12-11T09:54:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick and fun little gift-- a pillowcase. I know you have probably made several already for Christmas, but I just bought some fabric last night and whipped these up this morning. Aren't they cute? Who wouldn't have sweet Christmas dreams sleeping on these?

And now, they are wrapped and ready to go...part of a 12 Days of Christmas thing I thought I would do for the Grandkids. Just some dollar store finds, and Christmas candies. They will love being able to open one thing each day.

I still have a couple of pillowcases to make...

I love the little girly one, I think I will add a ruffle to that one. And the one on the left is for JoJo. He needs to open a present early, too. He loves his Halloween pillow case, and he spends a lot of time with me in quilt shops, so naturally he always want to buy a little fabric now and then. Especially if it is holiday or party related. So I make him pillowcases. (Otherwise he tries to sew something himself, and that is not good for my Bernina.)
Have a great weekend. Hope it snows. We need some fresh white.