Vacation Time . . .

I'm lovin' it!

All day to do what I want to do . . . and I've been doing it. The hours just fly by in amazing creativity. I've worked on many projects . . . completed a few . . . wrote four new patterns . . . started writing four more that are in different stages of production and drooled over many new ideas matched up with yummy fabrics . . . oh! the hours just sped by.

Here is a peek at one of the new projects. I still need to complete the directions on this one and send it off to my tester. Probably need another month or so before it can head off to the quilt shops.

Another view of a work in progress. Yes . . . I have spread my wings! My pattern line will now consist of traditional piecing, embroidery, paper piecing and whatever else I can squeeze in. I wrote two patterns yesterday that have nothing to do with quilting, but use quilting scraps of all kinds.

This pink lily is the third and final new lily that I bought this Spring. By far my least favorite.

I have weeded every inch my huge perennial garden . . . oh, my aching back. The chiropractor has seen me a few times in the past two weeks.

Everyone knows by now that YELLOW is my favorite color! Look at all these beautiful yellows meshed together . . . daisies and lilies everywhere.

The bouquet on my table is a gentle reminder to enjoy every minute - our Summer season is so short . . .

I hope everyone is having a special long weekend . . . stay safe and enjoy the season.

'til next time,

M.

I'm Back . . .

We had a wonderful time (sorta!) in Marean Lake. Rained most of the day on Saturday but that didn't stop us from golfing on Saturday night. Night golf is hilarious! The full moon didn't help with the anonymous golfer idea - everyone knew it was me when the ball went sharply to the left every time. Oh . . . there was once . . .

Even though Wawanesa is in a little Valley (crater as my Son refers to it), driving into the Quappelle Valley in Saskatchewan is still very interesting. You are greeted with all these rolling, layers of the earth . . . and it stretches out for miles and miles.

The land is usually very fertile also and the flats are farmed - makes for a wonderful backdrop for those round bales. I can't say that I'd like to drive up and down such a steep hill every day - I think that the drive in and out of Wawanesa is steep enough on icy, winter days!

When I got home I had another lily in bloom - the yellow one! If you click on the photo you can view it really close up - there are tiny droplets of water all over the petals . . . really nice.

Here is one of the pictures from the Lake. Can't you tell that these dogs are quite used to this mode of transportation? They ride up to the clubhouse with their owner and they stay on the ATV until he comes back from having his coffee. Patience is a virtue!

Look at my little scrap/garbage pile! Aren't those colors just the most delicious and mouthwatering feast for the eyes? Wait 'til you see the quilt!

I've been on holidays since last Friday . . . we got home late Monday night and I've been sewing every chance I get between washing clothes, mowing grass, etc. I'm having a great time and I'm looking forward to a long day of applique and border making . . .

'til next time,

M.

Brillante Weblog Premio - 2008 Award goes to . . .

The five wonderful bloggers that I have chosen are (in no particular order) :

Jennifer at Life's Just A Ferball in Tasmania, Australia. I first checked out Jennifer's blog because I liked the name so much! Being a cat lover myself it was hard not to check out a site with that name and then I found out what a busy lady she is. Stop by and say hello to her!

Nancy in Norway has had me on her list for quite some time. There is always something new on her sewing table and lots of good pictures to inspire us. Thank you, Nancy!

Jennifer from Manitoba and lives only an hour or so away from me but we've never met. Yet! I'll be needing to make a little trip over your way one of these days to check out your digs and some of those jelly rolls and fat 1/4's . . . plus I do need some quilt tops quilted . . . might need to make that trip sooner than later!


Joyce at J's Quilting Blog in Manitoba also. I love her view on life . . . "WOO HOO What A Ride!" Joyce lives less than two hours away from me and hopefully we will meet at a quilting "thing" one of these fine days. Joyce lives in a beautiful part of Manitoba (although all of Manitoba is beautiful!) and the pictures of her corner of the world are nice to see. Check out her views on life and also take a peek at all the projects she is working on.

Natalie also from Australia. Natalie is so inspiring to me . . . she doesn't post near enough as far as I'm concerned. I joined in her Color Challenge a few weeks ago and had a great time photographing only one color per day - need more challenges similar to that where the focus is on doing one particular thing. Keep up the great work Natalie and congratulations on the October news!

Vivian from California is a wonderful free hand machine quilter and does beautiful work. She's also quite the little traveller! I wish she lived closer to me so that she could machine quilt all my quilt tops . . . beautiful work! Plus she has beautiful children that lead interesting lives and it's always fun to check in to see what is going on in California.

Now, the way I understand this award is that each person who receives it, needs to award it to five bloggers that they feel are worthy of the Brillante Weblog Premio Award. Let me tell you . . . it's hard to narrow it down to only five. Good luck ladies!

Thank you to these five ladies for providing me with inspiration and entertainment! And thank you to all those other wonderful bloggers out there that I was just unable to squeeze into this one little post.

'til next time,

M.

The "PPP Giveaway" Winner Is . . .

My little Walmart happy guy (current favorite cat toy) helped with the drawing. There were so many entries that there was hardly room in the draw bucket for him to sit! I know these are NOT Anna Marie Horner's or Heather Bailey's designs . . . and I really didn't expect to receive a thousand replies . . . but if even half the lurkers out there left a comment we would have had a great contest!

Fer

from Life's Just A Ferball in Tasmania, Australia. Jennifer please send me your mailing address and I'll make up a little package for you.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by and especially everyone who left me a comment - I love reading the comments!

Maybe the 100th post thing is overrated . . . seven more to go and then I will reevaluate life in general. It has been a year now since the first post went into cyberspace and sometimes it is a chore to find something to post about . . . other times there seems to be lots of things to post. The other question one must ask is whether I do this for me or for the wonderful people that drop by . . . if it is for me, is it what I want . . . or is the time spent doing this, actually time away from doing what I really want to do?

Let me know why you blog . . . I would like to hear other people's insights. If you don't blog . . . let me know why you like checking out other people's blogs - either way I'm sure bloggers and lurkers alike would like to hear the others' reasons.

'til next time,

M.

Time is running out . . .

Today is the last day to leave a comment for the PPP Giveaway (see my July 5th post) . . . I know there are lots of you stopping by (lurking!), - all you need to do is post a comment. You don't need to have a blog to leave a comment . . . check out how easy it is by visiting Chooky Blue and read her June 27, 2008 post about how easy it is to Leave A Comment or you can send me an email and I'll be glad to answer your questions.

Hurry though . . . you've almost run out of time to get your name in! Odds are looking really good for the few of you that have left a comment . . .

Some fabulously shocked . . . surprised . . . overwhelming news . . .

I have received an award from Quilter Going Bananas! Totally not expected . . . but very much appreciated. Thank you K!

Well I have been doing just a couple of minutes research on this award and so far I have found that Wales, France, U.S. and Canada have been involved in passing this award along and I am thrilled to be included.

The requirements are that in my next post I will need to post links to five other quilting bloggers and pass the award on to them. I'll be needing to do some research on where I'm going to send the award and find all the link information to post. It may take me a day or two to narrow it down to only five bloggers - there are a bunch of you out there! I'll have to have this done before Friday because I'm starting my holidays then and will be away from the computer for a few days.

I've been doing a little bit of stitchery "stuff" and having a great time - I'll show you more soon.

Anyone like pink out there? This little posie reminds of some of my Grandma's old lace . . . very delicate and pretty.

This little geranium has my outdoor quilt in the background . . . I need to feed these plants or something because they are not cascading over the planter like I had imagined they would - that's why you're only getting part of the picture.

and this beautiful lily is called "Cocktail Twins" and was on the front cover of a lily catalogue that I had posted about a few months ago. Guess what?! It looks just like the photo - some things in life never quite look the same as their pictures . . . but this one really does. I bought three lily bulbs that day and this is the first to bloom . . . I think the other two are pale pink or white and a yellow one . . . can't wait for them to burst into bloom.

Isn't he cute? The story about this little guy goes like this . . .

We bought a Serta mattress and adopted this little guy (his name is one sixteenth (1/16th)). My daughter came out to visit the last three days and was the first person to sleep in the new bed, so I kept teasing her that she kept forgetting to take 1/16th to bed with her. Yesterday afternoon, after she had left, I went upstairs to make sure that everything was turned off and the windows were closed, etc., and here was 1/16th . . . all tucked into his new bed, holding the TV remote.

Just when you think your kids have lost their sense of humour . . . BOOM! . . . you get side-swiped with a fit of the giggles. Thanks Candace!

'til next time,

M.

Mid Week . . .

sleep in! Oh my gosh . . . I never sleep in!

I'm one of those people that is ALWAYS up before the alarm goes off. Not this morning though, I was almost an hour after the alarm - which didn't work for some wonderful reason. So it was a bit of a rushed start to the mid-week day.

Here is a nice soothing picture - yellows and a beautiful blue. The fabrics are from my ever growing stash of fat quarters and the mug is from the 125th Anniversary celebration last weekend for the R.M. of Oakland. I couldn't resist taking one of these little beauties to my sewing room to store some of my favorite yellows in. Did I ever tell you that yellow is my favorite color and I have never, ever, made a yellow quilt? I'll need to build my stash just a little more to do a full size quilt . . . but at least I've started collecting!

And . . . speaking of my ever growing stash of fat quarters . . . the newest shipment from The Fat Quarter Shop has arrived.

Mary Engelbreit's "Isn't Christmas Jolly" collection is here AND it includes blacks! For Christmas? Of course, why not? Black is my favorite color, before or after yellow? . . . I'm not sure which order to list my two favorites. Anyway, I think that black makes the green, yellow and red pop - can't wait to come up with something to use it in.

Look at those colors and that adorable border print . . . em? What pattern could we use for this grouping?

Speaking of favorites . . . daisies do it for me! So cheerful.

Have a great rest of the week and

don't forget the "PPP Giveaway"!

'til next time,

M.

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.

Weekend in Review . . .

Super busy . . . even too busy to take pictures!

Saturday started with the 125th Anniversary pancake breakfast and tour - both of which were excellent. Then it was a race for us to get the registration booth set up in another town, finish off some displays that hadn't been done and deal with a dozen other small (yeah, right!) issues that just happened to pop up.

One thing I did learn was never assume that people that say they are going to show up for a shift are really going to show up. At some points in time you can find people to fill in, but that wasn't always the case throughout the day. Had to do some mad scrambling, not to mention walking miles it seemed, to get the whole day to go as planned. From all reports everyone had a great time . . . the food was excellent, the entertainment was excellent, the displays were excellent, the fireworks were spectacular and even the mosquitoes behaved themselves until nightfall.

There were more than 500 registrants that signed the guest book, but we know there were many that just didn't stop by. The caterer indicated that he served more than 500 suppers and for a very small community I feel that we did very well - if I do say so myself.

My feet are starting to feel a bit better (two days later), but I'm still not sleeping that great . . . going over and over the conversations as to who is needing what and who wants to order that. I'm thinkin' the rest of the week is a right off.

I have finally made it to my sewing/computer room to do a bit of sewing and thought it was time to also do a quick little post to let everyone know I was still kicking (just not very high!).

The only pictures I have to share are from the garden again. Like I said . . . every time I look out there, there is something new to see . . . so therefore I will share with you.

Enjoy . . . and I'll be back in a couple more days,

'til next time,
M.
(P.S. - Happy Canada Day!)

Weather Watching . . .

This is the big weekend!

Everyone is watching the forecast for Saturday . . . hoping that there's not going to be 450 people stuck under a big white tent with the rain poring down. Could be cozy or just down right uncomfortable. Oh well, there are the beer gardens and lots of food, plus lots of people that haven't seen each other in quite some time. I'm sure that no matter the weather . . . MOST people will have a great time.

Personally . . . it's going to be a relief when everything is over! Wow, what a strain on the old stress level . . . trying to remember what all needs to be done and when it needs to be done by. Everything from displays, to cakes, to booklet publishing. logo design, pamphlet publishing, porta potties, meetings, etc. . . . all in addition to regular issues like gravel, culverts, detours, planning issues and weed control. How exciting a life this is?!?!?!

Eight more years . . . to retirement . . . so I'm told. Probably more like 28 years.

So, just to perk up my Thursday I thought I needed to see these little bloomies. This one is a little straw flower and this is the first time I've ever planted these. The blooms so far are really nice but the foliage needs to fill out a bit more to make me really happy.

This little painted flower is the ever wonderful standby - dianthus. Such little cuties mixed in with a whole bunch of lobelia.

This one I do know without looking it up . . . it is an perennial geranium. I remember this because it's always amazed me that it doesn't look anything like the real geraniums. These are great perennials to have around . . . the foliage forms a big globe shape and then sends out dozens of these purple (I also have a white one) blooms. Very cheery for a short while and then the foliage collapses under it's own weight and it needs to be clipped back.

Anyway . . . must run . . . millions of details to finalize today and tomorrow is even worse. So I hope everyone has a great weekend and I'll post again on Monday . . .

'til next time,

M.

As promised . . .

here is a better view of what I've done to my Jelly Roll.

This is a look at a few of the blocks - no where near done yet. Once this is all completed it will be combined into an upcoming pattern for release this Fall. So you really can't see the whole thing just yet . . .

I found some of this wonderful collection (Shangri-la by 3 Sisters) on sale at the Fabric Depot. I just love that background fabric - not to mention all of the other prints. In total I think the order was for 12 1/2 yards - not all Shangri-la but also the 40% off Peace on Earth collection also from 3 Sisters.

I didn't leave home for two days . . . but managed to spend a bit of money anyway. Who can pass up a sale!

'til next time,

M.

Beautiful weekend . . .

Birds are singing, the breeze is gentle, the sun is shining . . .

. . . and the blooms are blooming.

Wow, every time you turn around there is some new flower that has burst forth with it's little happy face.

Of course there are still the busy little bees to watch out for and you can hear the droning hum of the millions of mosquitoes that have hatched in the past week. These pesky little insects can ruin a perfect little "sit out on the deck" moment in next to no time. Believe me, I've tried . . . and I think my arms must look like little propellers . . . swatting this way and then that way!

Oh dear! If I was only the organized gardener that I once had planned to be . . . I would remember the names of all these glorious little blooms. How weird is this one? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as they say.

And, just one more tiny sneak peek . . . just putting the blocks together today . . . might have more to show tomorrow . . . stay tuned!

'til next time,

M.