Meet and Greet at the Quilted Steeple

Algona's newest quilt/craft retreat will be opening soon.

I will be making an appearance at their open house this Saturday - 21st at 1:00.

I know you are shocked - Sandy Gervais making an appearance -  it's a rare thing.

Not sure what I was under the influence of when I said yes.

The grounds are surrounded by rows of trees. We have strung 500 feet of rope between the trees.

Weather permitting we will hang my quilts on all 500 feet of the rope.

It is raining here right now. :-(

I also will have a few quilts hanging in the church.

I will be set up to vend on the alter.  I will have fabric, the Moda precuts and kits for purchase. We will have the capabilities to take credit cards, however cash would be much quicker - never sure how our internet reception will be out in the country.

Also vending:

Two scrapbooking companies -Close To My Heart and Stampin' Up.

Whole Country Caboodle (an Iowa fabric/pattern designer),

Evelyn Rhunke who makes really cool greeting cards and pictures using flowers from her garden.

You will also be able to taste wines from our local wineries, Plum Creek Winery and Train Wreck  from  2pm-4pm.

Other fun places to visit in Algona:

The Chocolate Season. Yummy! Lots of Chocolate and specialty drinks -my favorite is their Italian Fizzy. They serve lunch too.

The Perky Parrot. Coffee shop/lunch spot by day martini bar by night.

The Pet Kingdom. Everything your pet could possibly want.

Two antique shops. Home Store Antique, Front Porch Antiques

Phoenix. A gift shop with a lot of re-purposed items.

The Market. Another great gift shop.

Thistle Do Yet another great gift shop.

POW Museum.

The Grotto of Redemption. Located in West Bend, IA. - just 20 minutes from here.

And something for the men too.

Three golf courses. Algona Country Club, River Road and Spring Valley. 

If you are going to be in the area we would love to have you stop by and check out Algona's newest attraction. We will be giving a away MANY door prizes.

Below is a bit taken from their website. It describes the retreat better than I can. You can also Like them on Facebook. (click on pictures to enlarge)

When they say a lovely Iowa setting they are not kidding.

If they are not freaked by the crowd, you will be able to see these wild turkeys who have made the Quilted Steeple their new hang out.

Hope to see you Saturday!

From my heart,

Sandy

Winners of Size Matters Blog Hop

Thanks to all who followed along and left a comment.

I hope this hop inspired all of you to try the same block in different sizes.

And the winners are:

(Please email me your mailing addresses.)

Laurie is the winner of a  SoHo a fat quarter bundle.

 Laurie in Iowa said...

Thanks for the quilt pattern... I need to make this one up ASAP.

September 6, 2013 at 10:56 AM

Jean is the winner of a SoHo a honeycomb.

 Jean Fisher said...

Your new line is so vibrant!! Love, love, LOVE it! (Thanks for the opportunity to win.) Also it is great reading your blogs again! You have been missed!

September 13, 2013 at 1:25 PM

Susie is the winner of a SoHo candy pack.

 Susie said...

I'm in awe of your Spring coat. New line is really special.

September 7, 2013 at 10:58 AM

Size Matters Day 5 and Buddy Poppies

Today is Day 5 of Moda's Size Matters blog hop.
Blogging today are  Lauren & Jessie Jung, Kate Spain, Me and My Sister
Hop on over to their blogs to see why size matters to them.

It is also Buddy Poppy Day here in Algona, sponsored by our VFW Post 2541.

I dropped a donation in the box and was given a poppy. I  proudly attached it to my purse in tribute to all who served.
I loved poppy day as a child. I thought the poppies were so cute and red has always been my favorite color. They were made of crepe paper back then. As a child I had no idea what a huge role these pretty little flowers played.
Here is a link that tells the history and the importance of the Buddy Poppy - a trademarked name.
Be sure to buy a Poppy when Buddy Poppy day is in your community.

Tomorrow  Kathy Schmitz, Minick & Simpson, Primitive Gatherings will be blogging.


September 12th … Fig Tree, A Stitch and Dye, Thimbleblossoms

September 13th … Blackbird Designs, Cotton Way, Stephanie Ryan Studio

September 14th … Kansas Troubles, Aneela Hoey


September 4th … Laundry Basket Quilts, French General,  Zen Chic

September 5th … Bunny Hill,  Basic Grey, Sweetwater

September 6th … Jan Patek, Pat Sloan, Pieces From My Heart

September 9th … Deb Strain,  Barbara Brackman, V & Co.

September 10th … Lauren & Jessie Jung, Kate Spain, Me and My Sister

Happy hopping,
From my heart,
Sandy

Blog Break and Catching Up

The Moda Size Matters blog hop is taking the weekend off. We will continue the hop on Monday with
 Deb Strain,   Barbara Brackman,  V & Co. blogging.
 I thought I would use this down time to catch you up on the last 6 months.

As I said life's happenings and deadlines seem to get in the way of my blogging.

So here is a quick wrap up of the last six months.

March - quite frankly I don't remember much about March. All I can remember is the weather was colder and we had more snow than in December.

 I generated the quilts to go with my Valentine's line Table for Two

I also  made myself a spring coat during the month of March.

April - I think we received more snow in April than we did in March or December. If it was not snowing it was raining. We busied ourselves preparing for market in Portland. Soho was my market fabric line. We made several traditional type quilts using this fabric - see yesterday's post or go to here to see the newest patterns posted on my site.

May - on May 1st we broke long standing records when we received 11" of snow.

 Children had to deliver May baskets in winter coats - crazy! Many farmers were still struggling to get the crops planted. Most of the planting is usually done by the middle of May.
 May is always a crazy month as we have market AND my Christmas AND Fall lines of fabric are both due June 1st. These fabric lines were sent May 31st UPS next day air to Moda - just under the wire.

My Christmas line is named

Pine Fresh

Colors are  very similar to Merry Medley.

My Fall line is named

Hello Fall

A whimsical line featuring traditional fall colors.

When Joy found out we were going to market she begged and whined and cried until I said she could go along.

Since Joy would be attending market, Bruce thought he could stay home. I reminded him that Joy would not be much help...

as she does not have much of a head on her shoulders.

Nor she is very willing to lend a helping hand…

In the end Bruce and Joy both attended market.

We flew to Portland - well Bruce and I did - we stuffed Joy in a box and sent her on her way.

Since we flew we pretty much had to do a booth in a bag.

We rented some furniture from Vintage Furniture Rentals in Portland. 

The Koreans stopped by to say hi.

(My fabric is printed in Korea.)

Joy whined about having NOTHING to wear to market

 until I caved and  made her a new outfit for each day of market.

Day 1. outfit.

This was supposed to be day 2 outfit but I left this outfit at the hotel. She had to wear the SAME outfit on day 2 that she wore on day 1 and this outfit she wore on day 3. (Are you as confused as I am?)

 Boy was she mad - She pouted the whole day.

This was supposed to be day 3 outfit - her casual Sunday outfit.

We stayed at The Double Tree Hotel. In my mind a 5 star hotel.

They give you hot cookies when you check in, 

or anytime you go up to the front desk and ask for one…

I made quite a few trips to the front desk.

June - We had a very cold and rainy June. June 1st is the cut off date for planting  corn or soybeans with any chance of harvesting a decent crop. June 1st came and went with many fields unplanted. Never in my 50+ years have I seen field after field of unplanted ground here in the middle of farm country.

July arrives and finally we receive some warm summer weather. 

July 4th was spent at the cabin with friends and family.

Andy caught the biggest fish.

And the biggest stick.

Anthony caught the smallest fish.

The fisherman's trick of holding it as close to the

 camera as possible does not enhance the size of this fish.

The month of August was spent designing my Spring Market 2014 market line.

 Rambling Rose.

Kind of a softer more muted toned down version of SoHo 

with the addition of the color Grey.

Labor day was spent with my two sister's and their husbands at the cabin. The weather was perfect. I did not get one picture of the weekend. We mostly sat on the deck and ate big meals made from fresh garden produce.

I am now computer generating the quilts that will feature my new Spring line of fabric.

The name of the line is Chance of Flowers.

This line will début at Fall Market in Houston.

That pretty much is the last 6 months in a nutshell.

I will try my hardest to be a better blogger.

I can feel you all rolling your eyes - as you have all heard this before.

But I promise I really will try my best.
Check back on Monday when  Deb Strain   Barbara Brackman   V & Co. will be blogging.

Remember to leave a comment on YESTERDAY'S post (not this one) to be eligible to win some great Moda prizes.

Have a great weekend.

From my heart,

Sandy

Size Matters Day 3 - My Day and Prizes

Welcome to day three of the Moda blog hop. It is my day to blog along with Jan Patek and  Pat Sloan.

When I went to do a pre-post about the hop I was embarrassed to see that the last time I posted was way back on March 4th which was the last Moda Blog Hop. Good thing there are blog hops or you would never hear from me.

What have I been doing since last March 4th? All I can say is life's happenings and deadlines get in the way of blogging. Tomorrow I will do a quick wrap up of the last 6 months.

But enough about me not blogging - on to what this hop is all about.

Size matters.

When does size matter?

When you are shoe shopping and none of the cute 75 percent off sale shoes are in your size.

For the Moda Size Matters Schoolhouse we were to create a finished 18" block using various sizes of our block. (12", 6" and 3".)

My block is Railroad Crossing Variation.

Click on above picture to get my block pattern.

I created a simple little table mat by making four 6" blocks, eight 3" blocks and adding eight 1 1/2" X 6 1/2" rail fence pieces and a 6 1/2" X 6 1/2" center piece.

I also designed a quilt using my block in a different size format - 12", 8", and 4".

This is a single sheet pattern - it does not have an envelope - just a colored instruction sheet. Click here to order this pattern.

The fabric featured in these projects is Soho Chic. This fabric debuted at Spring Market in Portland and will be shipping Nov. 1st.

The patterns for this collection are up on our website and ready for shipping.

Check them out below.

#583 Proud Peacock

Charm Pack pattern

#584 Rolling Meadows

Jelly Roll pattern

#585 Plum Crazy

Layer Cake pattern

#586 Ring Toss (just one of four projects included in this pattern)

Dessert Roll pattern

#587 Street Flowers

Moda Candy/Charm Pack pattern

#588 Kaleidoscope

And my favorite pattern from this group.

#589 SoHo Sampler

Be sure to hop on over to the blogs of  Jan Patek, and  Pat Sloan to see what they have done with their blocks.

Up to blog tomorrow are Deb Strain,  Barbara Brackman, V & Co. 

Stop by their blogs to see why size matters to each of them.

And don’t forget to swing back by here to catch up on the last 6 months.
PRIZES - A Moda Blog Hop would not be complete with out prizes.

Leave a comment on THIS POST to be eligible for the prizes.

Don't forget to check us out on Facebook - you might even want to Like us.
I will announce the winners here and on Facebook on Sept. 16th.
See you back here tomorrow for a wrap up of the last 6 months.

From my heart,

Sandy

Size Matters Day 1

Today is the first day of Moda's Size Matters blog hop.
Hop on over to Edita's Kari's and Brigitte's blog to see why size matter to them.

September 5th … Bunny Hill,  Basic Grey, Sweetwater

September 6th … Jan Patek, Pat Sloan, Pieces From My Heart

September 9th … Deb Strain,  Barbara Brackman, V & Co.

September 10th … Lauren & Jessie Jung, Kate Spain, Me and My Sister

September 11th … Kathy Schmitz, Minick & Simpson, Primitive Gatherings

September 12th … Fig Tree, A Stitch and Dye, Thimbleblossoms

September 13th … Blackbird Designs, Cotton Way, Stephanie Ryan Studio

September 14th … Kansas Troubles, Aneela Hoey

Tomorrow will bring us Bunny Hill, Basic Grey and Sweetwater.
Happy Hopping.
From my heart,
Sandy

Why Does Size Matter?

Find out why size really does matter.

A new Moda blog hop starts tomorrow.

My day to blog is Sept. 6th.

Listed below are links to all of the bloggers.

Visit all of the blogs to have a chance to win some great prizes.

September 4th … Laundry Basket Quilts, French General,  Zen Chic

September 5th … Bunny Hill,  Basic Grey, Sweetwater

September 6th … Jan Patek, Pat Sloan, Pieces From My Heart

September 9th … Deb Strain,  Barbara Brackman, V & Co.

September 10th … Lauren & Jessie Jung, Kate Spain, Me and My Sister

September 11th … Kathy Schmitz, Minick & Simpson, Primitive Gatherings

September 12th … Fig Tree, A Stitch and Dye, Thimbleblossoms

September 13th … Blackbird Designs, Cotton Way, Stephanie Ryan Studio

September 14th … Kansas Troubles, Aneela Hoey

Prizes will be announced Sept. 16th.

These Moda hops are always fun and a great way to collect new quilt blocks - for free.

And also a chance to win some great prizes!

See you tomorrow.

From my heart,

Sandy