Preparing . . .

pattern orders!

Every time pattern orders come in the door it is a flurry of activity to get everything ready and back out the door as quickly as possible.

Lots of shuffling papers, swishing baggies and the wonderful smell of ink drying. The old production line kicks into gear. Some of the huge pattern designers can afford to send out for all their printing needs, but us small designers persevere with our own techniques.

Some of my patterns are a couple of years old now and I'm still trying to remember where I found the time to design them. Every time I have a new pattern on the drawing board, fabric at the ready, sewing started . . . something comes up and everything gets pushed to the side. I'm not sure how many partially made patterns . . . all at various stages . . . are sitting in my sewing room.

I start my holidays at the end of July . . . and I'm really hoping that I will be able to organize some of the partially finished projects into finished patterns and get them out there on the market.

I have to admit though that I have been having a great time trying different techniques and this is one of those techniques. Art quilts are very freeing and this technique used fabric crayons to shade in the background and then using flower and leaf shapes to build a beautiful, flowing garden. This quilt reminds me of my own garden where there really is no rhyme nor reason but everything flows together in a mass of color.

My patterns will never be art quilt patterns, but it was definitely a technique that everyone should try, at least once, just to break away from the traditional rules and learn something new.

So . . . is anyone out there ready for a giveaway?

I know I'm getting close to my 100th post but this one will be a pre-100th giveaway and hopefully by the time I get to 100 I'll have a new pattern to give away.

I'm going to call this giveaway the "Three "P" Giveaway" because the three patterns shown above all start with the letter "P" . . . Prairie View, Prairie Memories and Paper Dolls. I'm going to run this little giveaway until the 15th of July . . . I know that's 10 whole days . . . but that will take me to almost the start of my vacation and will give you guys lots of time to tell your friends to stop by and leave a comment. Good luck!

'til next time,

M.