Prize Winner

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

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

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. . . ?

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

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

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....

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.