Quilt Designers Blog Hop Picture Contest

Today we are kicking off the "Cross Country Christmas Quilt Designer Blog Hop" by having a "Guess the Designer" contest.

Can you guess which one of the 12 participating designers this little darln' is?
I will give you a hint - it is not me.

Make your guess by leaving a comment on my blog.
(Isn't it amazing that we had to have such a big TV for such a little TV screen?)

The person who guesses right will win fat quarters from my new fabric line Frolic.
(There will be a drawing if there is more than one winner.)
Go to each designers blog (see list at bottom of blog)

to guess who the designer is posted on their blog.
Hurry along and hop from blog to blog - the contest ends Saturday November 7th.

Check in on Monday November 9 as we begin our 12 days of Christmas. Gudrun from GE Designs is the "Project Designer" for Day 1. She will have a Christmas project posted on her blog. Check it out on Monday http://www.gudrun.typepad.com/
The topic for the day is "A Childhood Memory from the Holiday".
All 12 designers will be blogging on this subject. Hop from blog to blog and join in the fun.

Nov. 9th. Gudrun from GE Designs: http://www.gudrun.typepad.com/

Nov. 10th. Sandy from Pieces from my Heart :

http://www.piecesfrommyheart-sgervais.blogspot.com/

Nov. 11th. Terry from Atkinson Designs : http://www.terryatkinson.typepad.com/

Nov. 12th. Pat from Pat Sloan & Co.: http://www.patsloan.typepad.com/

Nov. 13th. Heather from Anka's Treasures : http://www.ankastreasures.wordpress.com/

Nov. 14th. Pam from Pam Kitty Morning : www.pamkittymorning.blogspot.com

Nov. 15th. Kari from New Leaf Stitches : www.newleafstitches.com/blog

Nov. 16th. Terri from Whimsicals : http://www.whimsicals.typepad.com/

Nov. 17th. Sherri from This 'N' That http://www.thisandthatpatterns.typepad.com/

Nov. 18th. Carrie from Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. http://www.lavieenrosie.typepad.com/

Nov. 19th. Roseann from Rosebud's Cottage. http://www.rosebudscottage.typepad.com/

Nov. 20th. Linda from Linda Lum DeBono http://www.lindalumdebono.blogspot.com/

Please spread the word about our hop on your blogs, guilds, quilt groups, shops, chat sites......and mark all the blogs in in your favorites folder.

Good luck with your guesses.

From my heart,

Sandy

Quilt Designer Blog Hop

I am very excited to be participating in my first Blog Hop!

Myself and the eleven designers listed below will be participating in a
12 Days of Christmas blog hop which officially starts November 9th
and ends 12 days (of coarse) later on November 20th.

Each day we will all blog about a different topic. Each designer will have a project posted on her designated day.

Mine is the 2nd day of Christmas which will be Tuesday November 10th. Topic for that day is: Special food/cookie you made as a kid or was a tradition, plus a recipe.



However, to get the fun started we will be having a "Guess the Designer From Their Baby Picture" contest. On Wednesday, November 4th each of the 12 participating designers will post a baby picture of a designer (someone other than themselves) on their blog. You will have until Saturday November 7th to make your guess as to who is who. So on Wednesday hop on along from blog to blog to check out each picture.

At the end of the twelve days there will be a grand prize drawn randomly from all of the people who commented on each of the 12 designer's blogs.

You must comment on all 12 blogs to be eligible for the Grand Prize worth $360.00.

(That is pretty grand!)

Here are the participating designers and their given date:

Nov. 9th. Gudrun from GE Designs: http://www.gudrun.typepad.com/
Nov. 10th. Sandy from Pieces from my Heart : http://www.piecesfrommyheart-sgervais.blogspot.com/
Nov. 11th. Terry from Atkinson Designs : http://www.terryatkinson.typepad.com/
Nov. 12th. Pat from Pat Sloan & Co.: http://www.patsloan.typepad.com/
Nov. 13th. Heather from Anka's Treasures : http://www.ankastreasures.wordpress.com/
Nov. 14th. Pam from Pam Kitty Morning : www.pamkittymorning.blogspot.com
Nov. 15th. Kari from New Leaf Stitches : www.newleafstitches.com/blog
Nov. 16th. Terri from Whimsicals : http://www.whimsicals.typepad.com/
Nov. 17th. Sherri from This 'N' That http://www.thisandthatpatterns.typepad.com/
Nov. 18th. Carrie from Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. http://www.lavieenrosie.typepad.com/
Nov. 19th. Roseann from Rosebud's Cottage. http://www.rosebudscottage.typepad.com/
Nov. 20th. Linda from Linda Lum DeBono http://www.lindalumdebono.blogspot.com/



Come join the fun.

From my heart,

Sandy

Odds and Ends

This post has a variety of subjects - non large enough to devote a whole post to, so I will just post some odds and ends.

First off I was not able to get this picture to post off of my laptop when I did my market post.
If it were not for these 3 fantastic girls, I would not have had 8 finished quilts and 9 wool projects displayed in my market booth.

Great job girls!
Lori, Sandy K., and Lois
Thanks for your dedication - I could never do it without you.

Next subject: The Des Moines Marathon

As a mother it is very difficult for me to watch my son run a marathon.

To me it is scary. The ambulance is always coming and going.

I cannot even image running 26.2 miles.

Our son Anthony and his girlfriend Deb trained all summer for this marathon.

Their goal was to finish under 5 hours.

They both met their goal.

Congratulations Anthony and Deb!



It was very cold Sunday in Des Moines.
We spectators wore winter coats, hats and mittens.

When the runners finished they were wrapped in "Mylar"??? blankets.
Anthony with his "blankie". Can you hear his teeth chattering???

I learned a lot about marathons this weekend. I learned they have what is called a pacer. This is a person who runs along with a group of people who want to finish in a desired time frame (theirs was under 5 hours) to pace them and sort of be their coach.

This man was their pacer.

I don't know his name but I do know he ran a full marathon

in Kansas City the day before this race.

Once again I don't understand - but wow my hat's off to him.

Next subject:
Jan and Pep Pateks anniversary.
Jan is having a contest to guess how many years she and Pep have been married.
I know but I shall not tell.
Hop on over to Jan's blog http://www.janpatek.blogspot.com/
to wish them a happy anniversary and make a guess. Guess right and you might win a Blessings Jelly Roll™ . Hurry up - you only have until Saturday to guess.

Jan and Pep on their wedding day.

What a great looking couple.
Happy Anniversary!

That's all for now.

From my heart,

Sandy

Back From Fall 09 Market

We are finally back from market.
Market itself was great. We were able to connect with old friends and customers.
Just a few of our friends:

Mr. Mark Dunn the owner of Moda Fabrics.

Jan Patek of Jan Patek Quilts. http://www.janpatekquilts.com/
Jan and I have been Moda designers for 15 years now.
We were the third and fourth designers to join Moda.
The first and second designers are no longer with Moda.
So that makes us the oldest - in more ways than one. :)
(Kathy Schmitz is in the background)





Deb Strain of Saltbox Illustrations - she too has been designing for Moda for quite sometime.

Alma Allen and Barb Adams from Blackbird Designs http://www.blackbird-designs.com/.
And Kathy Schmitz. http://www.kathyschmitz.com/

Lynn Hagmeier from Kansas Troubles http://www.ktquilts.com/

Joanna Figueroa from Fig Tree & Co. http://www.figtreequilts.com/

Sandy Klop of American Jane. http://www.americanjane.com/

Edyta Sitar from Laundry Basket Quilts. http://www.laundrybasketquilts.com/

Polly Minick and Laurie Simpson from Minick and Simpson
with their award winning booth ribbon.
Congratulations Polly and Laurie! http://www.minickandsimpson.com/

Lila Tueller of Lila Tueller Designs.
So sorry that I did not get a more complete picture of Lila.
http://www.lilatuellerdesigns.blogspot.com/

Karla Eisenach from Sweetwater. http://www.sweetwaterscrapbook.com/


We also visited with Barb and Mary from Me and My Sister. I snapped a picture of them but they will be very glad that I did not post it - sorry girls - it was not good.

Market itself was great but set up, take down and the trip home were brutal.
I will try to make it brief.

•As I mentioned it was ungodly hot for the first day of set up.

•The second day of set up we drove around Houston looking for antique shops.
•With a GPS that kept saying "acquiring satellites".
•In the pouring down rain, thunder and lightening.
•I was looking for a bench to display my pillows.
•Never did find one.
•Jan Patek was a dear and let me borrow one of her baskets.

•Right before takedown there was a downpour.
•Found our trailer sitting in a big puddle of water.
•Quit raining - the sun came out - then it was hot and humid.

•Monday night after market we drove to Conroe - just outside of Houston to spend the night.

•Started out bright and early Tuesday morning.
•In the pouring down rain.
•Stopped at Rudy’s Bar-B-Q in Norman Oklahoma for lunch.
•Mainly stopped there so I could have one - or 2 or 3 of their caramel/pecan bars.
•I only ate half of my turkey sandwich - to save room for the bars.
•They were out of caramel/pecan bars.
•So disappointed.
•My sole reason for stopping there was for a pecan bar.
•Left disappointed.
•50 miles down the road discovered that I had left my purse at Rudy’s.
•They are mailing it back to me.

•Nearly ran out of gas on the turnpike.
•We had 9.2 miles to a gas station.
•We had 8.2 miles of gas left in our tank.
•Missed our turn for the first gas station.
•Somehow by the grace of God we were able to drive about 2 more miles to the next gas station.
•We put 17.1 gallons of gas in our 17 gallon tank?????
•We did not shut our windshield wipers off anytime during this day.

•Finally made it to Kansas City about 8:00 Tuesday night.

•Slept in Wednesday morning.
•Drove the rest of the way home.
•Rained most of the way.

•Glad to be home.

Unusual thing that I saw on our trip to Texas:
At a convenience store they had two ice dispensers.
One said Regular Ice and one said Diet Ice.
Not sure what that was all about????
Did I have my camera to take a picture of this? NO. (I can't carry it with me, I might leave it somewhere and then I would never have blog pictures.) :)

Please bear with me - I really am trying to become a better blogger.

From my heart
Sandy

We Have A Winner

The contest is over and we have a winner. Well, actually more than one person guessed the right answer.

Edna was the first person to say a "flower cart" so she will win either a Frolic Layer Cake™ or a Jelly Roll™.

I then went to random.com and the winner of the second Layer Cake™ or Jelly Roll™ is Lizzie.
Would each of you please email me your address and your precut preference.

A Flower Cart
I liked your ideas of a frog riding a bike pulling a flower cart -

however, maybe you read wrong - I said I had 7 days to build this not 70 days.

A little about booth set up. This is what we start with.

Once again I forgot to take a picture of my empty booth,

so I took one of Lynn Hagmeirer’s instead.

(Fall’s under the too stupid to blog category.)



This year my booth has a flower shop/fabric shop theme. I apologize for the bad photography.

The end result after working 2 days in a non-air conditioned building - the air is not turned on until the show starts. - The air is again turned off during take down :(

Did I mention the temp here was 94° on set up day

and the humidity was 200% - or some ridiculously high figure.



By now I am really too tired to blog so I will just post some picture with no captions. Sorry it is the best I can do with the few brain cells I left. Hopefully after a good nights sleep my cells will be rejuvenated.

Again I apologize for the bad blog.
Good night.
From my heart,
Sandy

What's it Going to Be?

CLARIFICATION: Which Thursday is the contest ending??? Well let's make it Wednesday, October 7th at midnight.

Seven days and counting. Remember in my last blog I said that I had to design my booth and usually that would involve building or painting something. Well, it seems not only are we going to build something but we will also have to paint it. Can you guess what we are going to build?

These are your clues.

(the boards behind the bike are part of the clues)

We are going to take these various items and make them into something for my booth.

Can you guess what it is going to be?

Guess right and you have a chance to win one of these.

If there is more than one person guessing the right answer, (which I am sure there will be - it's pretty obvious) a drawing will take place.

The contest ends Wednesday, October 7th at midnight.

I will reveal what we have made after we place the item in our booth.

I will be updating my blog during market - so stayed tuned.

We have been too busy to empty the trash.

It doesn't smell so who cares?



Sandy K. stitching on some pillows.
My floss box is the one on the right - hers is on the left and center.
Gee I wonder why she prefers to bring her own floss.
(Really who has time for such silliness???)



Lois - just about done with one binding and then on to the next.

Seven more days to go and we have only have

3 items in the DONE pile. :-(

The pressure is on.

We will see some of you soon - way too soon.

From my heart,

Sandy

Spring Has Arrived

Spring has arrived! No not the season but my spring fabric.

Last Thursday I went to lunch and when I came back these boxes were sitting by my desk. Straight from the mill in Korea. - no time to ship to Moda and then on to me.

This is what was inside the boxes. The name of this line is Frolic.

For you shop owners that follow my blog, you will be able to see this at the Moda booth at International Quilt Market - If you are interested book your appointment now. If you are one of those blog followers that does not own a shop, you will have to wait until January to see this fabric in your favorite quilt shop(s). If you like it tell your quilt shop owner and maybe she will buy it. ;-)

About a week before the fabric arrived, I received scanned images of the fabric so I could computer generate my quilts. I consumed both of these boxes of fudge while generating. (Yes I really did spend $15.00 on fudge.) I generated 6 quilts using this fabric. Now we have to sew all six quilts, have them quilted and bound by the time we leave for market on October 6th. Yikes! That gives use only 13 days to get all this done! How do I do it?

I call in the troops.




Lois - Look at those stacks of connector squares (432 of them)
that she has to plow through before she can even begin to assemble the blocks.

Sandy K. helping Lois out with her connector squares while I cut a quilt for her to sew.

Sandy K. threading her bobbin - again.

Why can't somebody come up with bigger bobbins?

Lori working on her assignment. Notice, by now it is dark outside. How do I get my seamstresses to work a couple of nights during crunch season???

Feed them pizza.

Everybody went home last night about 10:00 and they are all back sewing today. I am very grateful for my dedicated seamstresses.

Not only do we have to finish all of the quilts, I also have to create my booth, (which usually involves building or painting something) write a newsletter, design and print brochures, make salesman sample packs, pack the trailer, pack a suitcase, pretty up a bit (get my toes and nails done, haircut and color) - all this in just 13 days. Pray for me. :)


From my heart,

Sandy