More Quilts from the Spokane Show

I hope everyone had a great Halloween! We had about 75 kids this year which is more than in the past. We also had cars driving on our street (there are just 10 houses) and then the kids would jump out of the car so we assumed that they weren’t from our neighborhood. Anyhoo, it is always fun to see the little ones dressed up and excited for this event! My husband still talks about the HUGE candy bars that he used to get as a child. And, I read in a cartoon about a little kid talking about a “fun” size (bite-sized) candy bar, and said, “What’s so fun about this?”

Now back to more of my favorite quilts from the WSQ quilt show in Spokane, WA where we exhibited at several weeks ago now. Enjoy the quilts!

Live well! Laugh often! Love much! Quilt daily!

Piece,
Michele

Happy Halloween!

It’s cold, gray and drizzley today, and hopefully it will be dry tonight when all the trick or treaters are out! We will probably get 30 – 40 kids at the door tonight, but certainly not like we used to when my kids were younger. Today is just not the same as it is when you have little children who have been planning for weeks as to what they want to be for Halloween. I remember years of sewing a costume for each of my 4 kids,  and relishing that time when I could still meet the wants of my kids. One year all 3 boys went as green dinosaurs but Myk’s contrasting tail was yellow, Kevin’s was blue, and David’s was red. Kelly, my daughter, was a pirate girl. Today those kids are 29, 25, 25 and 24; on their own, and I hope their memories of Halloween as a child are filled with fun!

This past week I made my traditional Pumpkin Bread which is my mother-in-law’s family recipe.  I hope you enjoy it!

Pumpkin Bread by Berta Crawford
4 eggs beaten until thick
2 cups of canned pumpkin
1 cup of vegetable oil
3 cups of sugar
2/3 cup of water
3 1/2 cups of sifted flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
2 teaspoons of backing soda
1 teaspoon of nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves

Combine eggs, sugar, pumpkin, water and oil – mix well. Sift all the dry ingredients together and add to the liquid ingredients – mix well until just blended as for muffins (batter should appear lumpy). Pour into 2 greased 5 x 9 loaf pans. Bake at 325 degrees fpr 1 14 – 1 1 1/2 hours.

* If desired, add 3/4 cup of finely ground walnuts to the batter.

Have a Spooktacular Day! If you get a chance, please stop by my website as I have a One Day Special Sale today on all my quilts patterns, and selected quilt kits!

Piece,
Michele

Washington State Quilters 2009 Show

Wow! Vending at a quilt show never ceases to amaze me as to how many extremely talented quilters there are! And vending at the Washington State Quilters – Spokane chapter show was no exception recently. It was the 31st show, and 600 quilts were hung plus all the quilts that were in the booths of 55 vendors. Quite a celebration of quilting for 3 days! Quilters come from WA, OR, ID, MT, WY and even Canada. Here are some of my favorite quilts from that show (with more to come in the next couple of days). Enjoy!

Live well! Laugh often! Love much! Quilt daily!

Piece,
Michele

La Conner Quilt Fest #2

Back to La Conner…. a quaint waterfront village on a channel that leads to the
Puget Sound
where there are boutiques to explore and B&B’s to enjoy! We stayed at the Hotel Planter which is on the National Register of Historic Places, and enjoyed breakfast across the street at The Calico Cupboard which had this display as you walked in the door.

There were quilts displayed in the Museum but also in the Garden Club where I was an
exhibitor along with my friends from the Shibori Dragon. There was a butterfly garden next to this building with a brick walkway to view the downtown waterfront.

Here are more quilts from the show:

Live well! Laugh often! Love much! Quilt daily!

Piece,
Michele

La Conner Quilt Fest 2009

Did you know that there are only 12 quilt museums in the US? One of them is in the picturesque village of La Conner, WA about an hour north of Seattle. The La Conner Quilt & Textile Museum is in the historic Gaches mansion, and has an annual Quilt Fest that features juried quilts, a Quilt Walk, Silent Auction, Workshops, and of course vendors like me!   

The quilts of Sandy Bonsib plus Josie Teeter Schlotterback,  and the students of Nancy Lee Chong are the featured quilts in the museum. Nancy came to teach at the Spokane quilt guild in July, and here is a photo of us in La Conner.  What a delight to see her again!

Here are a variety of quilts that were featured at this show:

Check back tomorrow for the rest of my favorite quilts from this show.

Live well! Laugh often! Love much! Quilt daily!

Piece,
Michele

NW Quilting Expo

Happy fall y’all! Tom and I just returned from being vendors at  the NW Quilting Expo in Portland, Oregon, and had a fabulous time! This is a juried show with over $13,000 in cash and prizes.  Here I am meeting one of my favorite designers, Lynette Jensen of Thimbleberries.  It was delightful to meet her, and show her my new pattern, The Great Outdoors, featuring a line of fabric she designed exclusively for this show.  It was our first time at a show in Portland and it was great to meet so many NW quilters. Here I am in our 10 x 20 booth which was packed with lots of quilt kits and 7 new quilt patterns.

Tom and I were busy all 3 days, but had a chance to eat out at some very nice restaurants including a Joe’s Crab Shack in Vancouver, WA across the river from the Portland. We see tv ads for this place all the time but this was the closest on to us but it’s a 6 hour drive from Spokane. Sunny with blue skies and we were sitting outside by the river drinking a multi-colored drink with an umbrella – ahhhh…… we’ll be back next year when we do this show again.

Here are some of my favorite quilts at this show. Enjoy!

Live well! Laugh often! Love much! Quilt daily!

Piece,
Michele

 

 

 

 

 

Help Wanted

I have had the supreme pleasure of having Sandy and her mom, Kathy, piece my quilts for me for 18 years. They had been absolutely FABULOUS to work with, and have made my quilt tops 
absolutely perfect! PLUS they are both the nicest and kindest people you’d every want to meet! Sandy (on the left) is an amazing woman who not only pieces perfectly, but gardens, cans, home schools, raises alpacas, is a volunteer firewoman, and has helped her husband build 4 homes. She is Wonder Woman to me! I know she has received all these great attributes from her mother, Kathy (on the right).  Sandy needed more of a full-time job with her 2 kids headed for college, and became an EMT so her mom has done most of the piecing for the last several years. Unfortunately Kathy developed a heart condition as of this past spring, and cannot help me any longer.

I have put off looking for someone to fill their shoes as change is hard for me, and I miss working with them! I finally started looking last week after putting an ad in the local quilt guild newsletter. I booked appointments last week and have interviewed 5 women so far.  This is a NEW experience for me, and I think I have found several women that will fit the bill. I know some designers do all their own piecing and quilting, but I am not a Wonder Woman myself. As a small business owner I know that my strengths are in designing and marketing so I need the best people possible for my staff to make it work. (Now I sound like Tim Gunn from Project Runway, one of my favorite shows: “Make it work!”) I’ll keep you posted.

Live well! Laugh often! Love much! Quilt daily!

Piece,
Michele

Summer isn’t over yet…

Ahhh….here is my oasis – the back deck off of my kitchen. Beth Ferrier refers to her patio as her “summer office” but I choose to just relax here. We put a gazebo out here a couple of years ago as the back of the house faces the south and you couldn’t even be out here before when it was sunny and hot! Now the “shade” offers a cool spot to sit and relax, talk and have meals with Tom and family or friends. Tom is the one in the family with the green thumb, and he swears by Miracle Gro! It was in the 90’s over the weekend so I know that summer isn’t over yet! The tips of the leaves on my burning bushes are starting to turn red, and there is a nip in the air at night which I love so fall is approaching.

Tom is downstairs right now cutting October Glow quilt kits as the fabric just arrived, and we have orders to fill! It’s not too early to think about the holidays
especially Halloween. Here is one of 4 different vintage style quick and easy kits  featuring a panel as the entire quilt top. Pumpkin Boy is a 32″ x 34″ quilt top that is machine quilted and then embellished with hand embroidery that’s fun to do! The kit includes the fabric panel for the quilt top, fabric for the binding, and the directions for $16. There are 3 other similar kits – same size and same price: St. Nick, Snow Fun, and My Sweet Valentine that can be viewed on my website.

Live well! Laugh often! Love much! Quilt daily!

Piece,
Michele

I’m Back!

No, I haven’t fallen into a pile of fabric and suffocated, but I have been dealing with some health issues that didn’t make me feel like sharing.  Now I’m ready to tell the world to be  proactive about your own health. No one knows your body – all the aches and pains – better than you! After 3 1/2 months of  not feeling well and going to a variety of doctors and having various tests, my primary doctor told me that I should have a stress test. Well, I did and ended up having a heart catheterization – yup, very scary! Thank GOD all my arteries are clear and my heart is fine, but I do have high blood pressure. I am on a variety of meds (like I have found many people are) and the doctor is still tweaking what the right meds and dosages are. I feel MUCH better, have even lost 20 pounds so far (with more to lose) and am making some other positive lifestyle changes.

I am back at work designing new quilt patterns and kit for our site and all the quilt shows we’re vending at this fall. This quilt on the right is called October Glow and features a new collection by Red Rooster. The blocks are 6″ square finished but easy to piece. I love how the magazine styled this quilt! It looks like the back porch I’ve always wanted.

Have a great Labor Day weekend! We’ll be going to the annual concert in the park on Monday night with the Spokane Symphony!

Live well! Laugh often! Love much! Quilt daily!

Piece,
Michele

Are you a whale or a mermaid?

Laurel, the mother-in-law of  my son David, sent these “words of wisdom”  which I just had to share. Looking at this photo of my cat, Max, that I took last night of him laying on our dog’s crate next to my computer makes me think he looks like a whale.  Well, cats act like humans sometimes?

Recently, in a large French city, a poster featuring a young, thin and tan woman appeared in the window of a gym.  It said:

THIS SUMMER DO YOU WANT TO BE A MERMAID OR A WHALE?

A middle aged woman, whose physical characteristics did not match those of the woman on the poster, responded publicly to the question posed by the gym.

To Whom It May Concern:

Whales are always surrounded by friends (dolphins, sea lions, curious humans).  They have an active sex life, they get pregnant and have adorable baby whales.  They have a wonderful time with dolphins stuffing themselves with shrimp.  They play and swim in the seas, seeing wonderful places like Patagonia, the Bering Sea and the coral reefs of Polynesia. Whales are wonderful singers and have even recorded CDs.  They are incredible creatures and virtually have no predators other than humans.  They are loved, protected and admired by almost everyone in the world.

Mermaids don’t exist.  If they did exist, they would be lining up outside the offices of Argentinean psychoanalysts due to identity crisis.  Fish or human?  They don’t have a sex life because they kill men who get close to them not to mention how could they have sex?  Therefore they don’t have kids either.  Not to mention who wants to get close to a girl who smells like a fish store?

The choice is perfectly clear to me; I want to be a whale.

P.S. We are in an age when media puts into our heads the idea that only skinny people are beautiful, but I prefer to enjoy an ice cream with my kids, a good dinner with a man who makes me shiver and a coffee with my friends.  With time we gain weight because we accumulate so much information and wisdom in our heads that when there is no more room it distributes out to the rest of our bodies.  So we aren’t heavy, we are enormously cultured, educated and happy.  Beginning today, when I look at my butt in the mirror I will think, Good gosh, look how smart I am!

Live well! Laugh often! Love much! Quilt daily!
Michele