Creativity is the courage to express your heart and mind exactly as they are...

Saturday, July 14, 2007

LOTS of new quilting things!!

I have been absent from the blogging world for awhile and after I tell you all that I've been up to, you'll understand why!!

First of all, I was overwhelmed with the response to the Australian designer patterns. I think they're great and am glad that you do, too! I just put in another order as I can't seem to keep any stock around here (not complaining!) and am currently working with five more designers to add to the list. I'm also working on creating a new blog just for the business end of things so as not to clog up my personal blog here. Watch for the news of its grand opening!

SO...what have I been up to? Quilting, quilting and more quilting!! Not in the physical sense, but I have been filling my little brain up with it until it's coming out of my ears!! LOL The first Friday in June was spent on a short road trip to the nearby Omaha Quilter's Guild show in Omaha, Nebraska. My friend Barb and I went and spent the day, all the while watching the sky as it was storming all around us. We never did run into anything other than a few sprinkles. The show was set up nicely ~ TONS of vendors and new ones that I'd never seen before. I did plenty of shopping!! LOL The quilts were displayed nicely although there wasn't really anything that caught my eye. I had to giggle as the raffle quilt this year was a Pam Bono design and the guild must have had a class on it...there were plenty of that same quilt in the show. :) Sometimes that's just the way it goes ~ I find it's usually easy to tell what the speakers and/or theme for the guild is for the year. It is usually pretty evident in the shows.

The next week, a friend and I attended MQS in Kansas City. WOW! The long-arming talent out there still just astounds me. I was lucky enough to meet Sharon Schamber (this year's winner at Paducah and also the ribbon-taker at MQS). I tried out ALL of the machines I could find as I'm currently considering investing in a mid or long-arm. There were the big names...Gammill, A-1, APQS, Nolting and there were the smaller machines (and smaller names), too ~ Voyager, KenQuilt, TinLizzie, Handy Quilter, etc. It was great FUN to test each machine, but there was so much information, I was about on overload!! I have it narrowed down to two selections...but will not be making a decision until I can spend a day at each distributor's place to play more with their machines. I'll let you know when the time comes for one to 'come home' to my house!

I also was priviledged enough to be able to stay with a great bunch of gals in a hotel suite right across the street from the convention center. I don't think I've spent as much time laughing in a long time!! Here we are in all of our glory. Don't we look like a fun bunch?!?!



I'm also going to put just a couple of quilt pics here for your enjoyment. You can find the remaining photos of MQS quilts at my Webshots album here.







So...after the excitement of MQS was over, I took off the next week with my friends Barb and Sharon to the MN State Quilter's Guild show in St. Paul. We spent Thursday at the show and had a marvelous time. TONS of inspiration and, in speaking with others, have decided that this year's show was really "Inspiration for the Everyday Quilter". Meaning that, while there were some beautiful advanced quilts on display, there were also plenty of beautiful quilts that provided tons of inspiration for those who don't consider themselves professional or advanced. My pick of a few pics from that show are below. The first one took Best of Show (and did it ever deserve it!). The second one is a pattern I've considering purchasing but have yet to. Seeing it done up in person has convinced me that I need to find it again! It was gorgeous!! If I remember correctly, it is a pattern by Marti Michell's daughter.





You can see the remaining photos of the MN show here. The evening and two days following the show were spent shop-hopping around the Twin Cities area at every quilt shop we could find! Some of the ones we visited were Bear Patch Quilting in White Bear Lake (GORGEOUS shop with TONS of samples, fabrics, stitching, etc.), Rosebud's Cottage in North St. Paul (awesome selection of wools and very nice classroom space), Quilter's Courtyard in St. Paul (very nice shop with great samples and awesome fabric selection!), Gruber's in Waite Park (boasting 10,000+ bolts of fabric ~ very well organized plus a yarn selection for knitters/crocheters/embellishers as well) and St. Croix County Dry Goods in Hudson, WI (awesome shop with TONS of quilt fabric and oodles of antiques...what more could you ask for?!?! LOL). We stayed in a very nice Holiday Inn in east St. Paul the entire time and it worked out well as the central point for all of our excursions! My main focus this trip was accumulating fabric to begin working on my Vintage Valentine quilt. I'm almost sure I now have everything I need!!

I spent the next couple of weeks 'recuperating' LOL and hitting the local shops for a few items. Yesterday, I attended the Ankeny Quilter's Guild annual show and it was a hit this year!! I've attended every year for the last 7 and, I have to say, I was very disappointed in last year's show. They had moved it to a new location (which was nice) but the quilts and vendors last year either weren't my style or I wasn't in the mood (which is rare!). This year, they did an excellent job and the quilts on display were great! They also had Karen McTavish as this year's speaker. If you don't know who she is, definitely check out her website at the link provided. Her long-arming has definitely revolutionized the quilting world and she has TONS of followers! She is now a rep for APQS and teaches classes in her own studio as well as all over the US. She gave a great lecture and is such a nice person to talk with. I hope to upload my Ankeny show pics soon and will share as soon as that's accomplished.

We also added a new furmember to our family this week.

Max is a 6 year old AKC Golden Retriever who was given up by his family who didn't have enough time for him. He rode great in the van on the five-hour trip home from north of the Twin Cities and has been great with the kids!! He seems like a horse compared to our mini-dachshund, but he's really just a gentle giant :) He already knows some commands ~ sit, stay, down, fetch, shake, etc. He LOVES to be around people and has become part of our family already. He's not so sure about our cats, yet ~ but we're working on that. He doesn't really want to eat them, he just wants to play with them and they're not so sure about that!!!

I'm getting ready for our biennial quilt show coming up at the end of August so hope to have pics of my own projects to post soon! (Have to get on the ball to get them done for the show!)

Hope everyone's having a great weekend!!


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5 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

Hi Shannon, hey when and where is your quilt show? I wouldn't mind coming over for it. (If it works out with my schedule.

Email me at gumpsjenny@yahoo.com if you don't mind sharing the information.

10:23 PM

 
Blogger Tina J. said...

WOW! Ok, so I'm completely overwhelmed! I'm loving the whole quilting process so far, but I'm really making simple blankets compared to most of the pictures I see on your blog! I love looking at all the new blogs listed in your sidebar too! And welcome to the new doggie member of your family. I can't wait to get quilting again! My mother in law is coming to visit soon and is planning on helping me out with some hand quilting! Can't wait!

Tina J.

9:59 PM

 
Blogger Beertje Zonn said...

What a beautiful Quilts.
Regards,

Sonnja from the Netherlands.

11:53 PM

 
Blogger Beertje Zonn said...

What a beautiful Quilts!
Regards,

Sonnja from the Netherlans

11:55 PM

 
Blogger Molly Mandeville Fryer said...

Great quilts--you are a busy girl!

9:44 PM

 

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