Blog Hop Day 11

Hello, it's day 11 of the Cross Country Quilt Designers Blog Hop.
That means it is the 11th day of Christmas.






Before we get to the 11th day of Christmas, I must announce the winner of the Crazy 8 Charm Pack™/Brrrr! pattern.
And the winner is mjwadle who said... Cute story about Abby! I got the call at work this summer when the kids were home alone and Megan said "Reece says you are Santa and the Tooth Fairy". How do ya answer that one? Love reading your blog : )
mjwadle please email me here with your address.

Thanks to everyone for commenting on my blog posts. I really enjoy reading the comments. I feel somewhat connected to all of you through this blog hop.


With out further ado, let me introduce the designer of the day. Please welcome Roseann Kermes of Rosebud's Cottage.

Roseann has designed a very cool project for you.

Even cooler - it's FREE.

Check it out here.

Don't forget to comment on her blog so you will be eligible from the prizes.

1st Prize A gift bag worth $250

2nd Prize A gift bag worth $70

3rd Prize A gift bag worth $40

Have any of you already completed a project from this hop? If so, photograph it and post it here on Fickr. If not, check it out anyway, there are many cool completed projects already posted.

The topic for the day is: Favorite Christmas Quilt or Using Quilts to Decorate for Christmas.

I have been designing fabric for Moda Fabrics for 15 years. I design 6 lines of fabric a year. 6 X 15 - that's 90 lines - give or take. I have designed quilts for all of these lines of fabric. Bottom line - I have a lot of quilts. Not just mine, but ones I have bought over the years - antique ones, some I have bought from friends, some I have received as gifts.

Here are just a few ways I use quilts other than on a bed.

You have already seen this picture - As a tree shirt.


As a tablecloth.

Draped in a trunk.

As a framed picture.

Simply folded and stacked to the ceiling.

Little quilts to add warmth and texture.

As a backdrop for my Santa collection. Draped over chairs.

I used this one as a rug in my booth at International Quilt Market.

I never quite have enough wall space and it softens the hard "paneled" floor.
I always place a quilt on our living room floor at Christmas time.

(Sorry - no picture and I was not about to reenact it.)
Don't be afraid to do this.

Remember they are more washable than your carpet.

When was the last time you threw you carpet in the washer and dryer?

I have more, but of course I do not have pictures. Leave me a comment I would love to hear how you use quilts to decorate.

Hop on along to the other designer's blogs to see how they decorate with quilts.

GE Designs, Pieces of My Heart, Atkinson Designs, Pat Sloan, Anka's Treasures,Pam Kitty Morning, New Leaf Stitches, Whimsicals, This 'N' That, Miss Rosies,Rosebud's Cottage, Linda Lum DeBono

My goodness tomorrow is Day 12 and the end of the Cross Country Quilt Designers Twelve Days of Christmas Blog Hop. :(

Tomorrow's designer is Linda Lum DeBono. I have not met Linda in person, but I have seen her designs and they are way cool. I can't wait to see the project she has designed for us.

Tomorrow's topic: Craft, something you still make every year or made as a child....could be a craft gone wrong horror story. Should be tons of fun. See you then.

Happy Hopping.

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