Last night we held our first class in our new shop!   The name of the class was Zip It and the object was to help sewers get over the fear of using zippers!   The little tote we made was a new Atkinson Design called, Zippy Strippy.  The pattern offers three different sizes and we made the medium size.  It was a full house with 6 sewers who were all friendly and full of fun.  We accomplished our goal of eliminating "Zipper Fear" and everyone left with a finished project!   The next class for this project is Wednesday, July 7.  The class fills fast so come in and make your reservation today!

What would you think about driving through the country and seeing beautiful Quilt blocks hanging from old barns and houses!  This is exactly what you can see in Pender, Nebraska!  This small town in Northeast Nebraska has created a driving tour of 125 houses and barns that display large quilt blocks.  The whole idea started with a group of ladies from Pender that went on a road trip through Iowa and spotted unique, eye-catching quilt block creations on barns.  This planted the seed with them for creating the same project in Pender to help beautify the community!  The group designed, developed and completed 8 wood Quilt Blocks that were hung on various barns and homes.  From that point on the interest of the community was immediate.  More and more quilts were made and have been displayed throughout Pender and the countryside in celebration of the Pender Q125 Celebration.  If you happen to be near Pender this summer, take time to stop by Pender State Bank at 222 Main St or visit www.penderq125.com for more information on this truly fun experience!

It's not to early too think about Big Red Nebraska football!!  This year you can be warm as toast in your new stadium blanket.  The Quilted Kitty has your favorite "Go Big Red" fabric in addition to the best product ever, Insul-Bright.  This product is special ordered to help make your stadium blanket fast and easy.  Size is 22" wide by whatever length you need (or put three widths together for a "together" blanket), very cozy!! Haven't heard of Insul-Bright?  This is a great addition to any quilters stash.  The fabric consists of hollow, polyester fibers needle-punched through a reflective metalized polyester film.  The material is totally breathable and won't break down when washed.  It can be used for pot holders, oven mitts, casserole covers, place mats and cloth trivets.  For the summer months, keep your picnic take along cold; wrap them in Insul-Bright.  This is a must have must have product for every quilter!!

Howdy!  I have been busy finding places for all the new patterns, notions, books and fun stuff that I purchased at Quilt Market.  I love looking through all the new stuff and planning what I am going to do with it!   One of the new patterns I purchase at Quilt Market was from Crabapple Hill.  As many of you know, Meg Hawkey the designer is my "embroidery hero"!  I love her designs and how they turn out, wonderful!  One of the best things at Quilt Market was that I was able to meet her!  She was as wonderful as I thought she would be and we had a few moments to just sit and chat.  She had a beautiful booth that displayed all of her new designs.  Of course, being such a huge fan, I purchased all of her new designs.   It would be hard to pick just one as my favorite so I won't, but here is one that would be a peaceful and fun project to do through the summer!  It's called Nesting Time and so far it has been extremely popular in the shop!  Meg has graciously agreed to do an interview for us so keep an eye out for that in our blog soon!

Well it's been 4 days since I returned from Quilt Market and I am just starting to get some energy back!  It is such a overwhelming experience to attend Quilt Market on so many levels!  I have started to unpack all of the loot that we brought back so I can put out in the shop!  My focus was on smaller projects and easy to accomplish kits.  Of course I have lots of new stitchery patterns, kits and books to share!  Over the next couple of weeks our other items will start to arrive to watch for our newsletter, facebook postings and of course our blog!

Well Quilt Market is wrapping up and we are finishing up some loose ends.  Today we ordered some ceramic buttons from Riley Blake that are darling!  All the colors match their fabric collections and I already have 100 ideas on how to use them running through my mind!  I have a HUGE love of buttons so it was hard to narrow down the choices but these were some of the best! 

Pam and I took some time to walk through the quilt display that is featured at the start of the show.  The quilts were magnificent and one of our favorites was this beautiful lavender hand appliqued quilt.  The applique work on it was fantastic and I was ready to pull it down and stuff it in my tote but Pam said they frown on that sort of thing.  Really????

We finished out our day with a visit with our favorite pal and designer, Dodi Poulsen from Two Sister from Squirrel Hollow.  She had one of the best designed booths in the show, with all of her models from her new book, Fresh Picked!  We featured this book through Shop Hop and all those lucky people that ordered ahead will receive an autographed copy when they arrive in June!

We are making plans for our Post-Market Preview party that will be held in the shop.  Watch for details but don't wait to register, seating will be limited.  As fun as Quilt Market is, it will be nice to be home and have a good night's sleep in my own bed.  I am sure the Furry Dudes, Caliber, Opie & Wally will take their time getting over their "huff" with me for not taking them along, but maybe next time!

Nanci

I have to say that I am absolutely blown away to be allowed to hang out in a room that is so full of creative people!  It is just amazing to look around and see all your favorite designers just standing and chatting like normal people!!!  I guess you could say that I am star struck!  It's like Hollywood for Quilters! 

Today I met wonderful people like Linda Lum DeBono who has a beautiful new collection coming out from Henry Glass, and I promise it will be in my shop.  Meg Hawkey who is my "embroidery" mentor, but more on that story later.  I also got a hug from the most fun guy around, Mark Lipinski!  Everyone's favorite and road side helper, Pat Sloan, and Connie Chapman from Crow River Quilting who has the cutest coffee pattern!  It has been a truly terrific weekend.

We found a new fabric company today called Adorn-it.  It is a family run company based in Utah that is designing and producing some of the cutest fabric.  Their new collection, "Life's a Hoot" features a cute little owl in teal, gold & brown and is "hootiful"!  LOL

Pam and I were on the hunt for cute buttons when we found Just Another Button Company!  Wishing we could win the lottery, we narrowed down our choice to a darling pattern kit to make a wool pincushion that will hold these whimsical little pins!

Because we couldn't stop ourselves we also purchased some fall, Christmas, winter and summer "Pinheads"  I know you all will all want some 'cause they are just so darn cute!!!

Just one more day and  then we are on the road back home!  Better go map out my spending spree for tomorrow!

Nanci

What a fantastic day!  Both Pam and I were able to meet up with our favorite designers!  As we walked the isle and looked for new loot for the shop, we came across the Cozy Quilt booth that is showcasing a new line of Strip Club patterns!  We will be starting up the strip club again in the shop and these new designs will certainly be fun to make!  Take a peek at once of my favorites!

Another fun item that we purchased is Scissor Pals!  Fun little fobs that you can attach to your scissors, rotary cutter and even your sewing machine!  Of course we will have several with a darling Kitty charm!  I will have these on the web as soon as I get back!

Pam was so excited to run into Leann Anderson from The Whole Country Caboodle!  Leann is Pam's favorite designer and has ordered a ton of her new designs.  We have also ordered the entire collection of Let Us Adore Him from Henry Glass, Leann's latest collection!  Watch for this collection in July when we celebrate Christmas in July!

Not to be outdone I hunted down my favorite designer, Lynette Anderson.  Lynette is from Australia so I could stand and listen to her talk all day but, instead I did a "little" shopping from her new designs.  We are currently doing her Block of the Month design, A Kitten's Tail, and will soon receive her new line, Stitches!  Watch our web site and newsletter for some great "mini" kits we will be sharing with you from Lynette!

We have been staying at a hotel a bit further away from the convention center than is convenient for walking.  The hotel has kindly supplied us with a shuttle and driver.  Our favorite driver is Brandon who has been sharing his knowledge of Minneapolis with us.  Tonight he suggested a wonderful place to eat and even dropped us off and picked us up when we were ready to return to the hotel!  Besides being a terrific guy he is going to be a first time Daddy soon!  Thanks to Brandon for all his help and good luck with his growing family!

The restaurant that he took us to was called Brasa.  This wonderful place serves rich Creole cooking with traditions found throughout North American, the Caribbean,  Central & South America.  Basically it was fantastic!   Both Pam and I had the chicken with beans & rice, with a cornbread muffin on the side.  If I lived here in Minneapolis I think I could eat there every day!  Not only do they have wonderful food, great service but they have cute waiters too......I am not too old to look!

Oh what fun we had today!  Classes and presentations from all of our favorite designers and fabric manufactures.  My head is just swirling from all the ideas and programs that I saw today!  I have taken a few pictures to share with you!  I attended Heather Mulder Peterson, from Anka's Treasures, project and saw several of her new quilt designs plus the new collection, Sanibel!  I am happy to say that I have ordered the entire collection and it should be here soon!   Several of her projects include smaller projects so that you can use up every scrap of fabric!  That seems to be a continuing theme with most of the new designs from everyone.  Notice the small table topper that is made from the leftover's of the larger quilt.  Heather's husband Joel is holding the project and I just noticed that his shirt matches!  How is that for using your left over scraps! LOL

Sherri Falls from This & That Designs has a darling new Block of the Month called, Paris in the Fall.  This is going to be a 6 month project that will feature Blck, Red & White, true Nebraska colors! Look for this BOM and soon!

Eleanor Burns from Quilt in a Day always puts on a wonderful show and this year's presentation was no exception.  Her introduction of Quilt Blocks on American Barns was fantastic, complete with a sing along, farm animals and barns!  Look for this wonderful new book in our shop and on our website!

Okay, I took a picture of Pam arriving at the Quilt Market and I was going to take a picture of us finishing the day.  We started the day bright and cheery but by the end of the day (at 10:30pm) we were too tired to take the picture!  Stay tuned for more tomorrow!

Beautiful new design featuring the new Sanibel from Heather Mulder Peterson:

See what you can do with the left over fabric???  Check out the shirt too!

Sherri from This & That and her fantastic new Block of the Month project!

Here is Eleanor's new project, American Barns with Farmer Orion!

Last but not least, here's Paaaammmmmm.........

Hello!  I am writing you from my hotel room in Minneapolis.  Tomorrow begins the first day of Quilt Market and I am so very excited.  This is the time when we can view all the new designs, fabrics, books and more to order for the shop!   Each day will be something new and exciting to see and do, and I will be sure to share it with you on the blog!  Be sure to watch for our posts via facebook and also here.  We are also planning on a few fun giveaways so keep watching!  Now off to bed, big day tomorrow!