They're gone!!!

They're on their way to the BIG APPLE!

Fed Ex left just a couple of minutes ago.  Woo hoo!

 
Excited?

Moi?

Nah...says I with my nose growing!

Happy stitching!

Ready to ship!

The designs are finished and inked.

All that remains is to package them up and wait for Fed Ex to pick them up tomorrow.

I'm happy with the concept and theme of my first fabric line and the way that everything turned out.  After a lot of apprehension and second guessing, I decided to trust my instincts and go with my first drawings.

What a roller coaster ride this has been!  I still feel like I'm climbing the first hill and haven't quite reached the top yet.  I guess that will happen once I see how Blank Quilting makes the fruits of my labor come to life on fabric.

I can't wait!!!

Now that the pressure is off, I took a little time to do a little moving around and rearranging.

In our mission to downsize and and 'declutter', we've sold some large pieces of furniture which left gaping holes in some rooms.

Ollie is trying out the loveseat in the living room and says he likes it a lot.

During the time I was convalescing from my hip surgery and because I couldn't do the stairs, we had to move our bed downstairs into the living room so EVERYTHING was in a complete state of disarray.  It's so nice to have things back to 'normal' now.

Ollie was supervising and keeping me company while I was putting my quilts back into the quilt cupboard.

There are still two more totes full of quilts to be brought in from the workshop that will be added to the mix.  Those that don't fit will be stacked on a bench.

We brought the antique pine cupboard into the living room,

which frees up a lot of space in the dining room due to the size of the pine harvest table.

Pardon the vacuum cleaner and boxes which should have been moved before I snapped the photo.

In the den, I rolled a couple of my small quilts into one of our salt-glazed crocks...

and moved the red hunt table to it's new home under the primitive wool wall hanging.

There's still more moving and tweaking to be done but at least everything is clean and dusted, just in time for Spring...and the dust bunnies are gone!

Now that the pressure is off, Ill be free to quilt and stitch to my heart's content...but who knows for how long?  *wink*

Happy stitching!

It's all coming together!

My happiest times are when I'm designing and creating.  

As much as I'd love to share with you the fruits of my labor over the past week, you just know that I can't.  Of course I'm referring to the designs for my first "yet to be born" line of fabrics.

I've lost count as to how many times I've added, deleted, rearranged, redrawn, redrawn and redrawn again some of the design elements but by jove, I think I'm done!  

I'm thrilled with the way things have turned out.  All that's left now is to work on the final layout of the design elements on the focus fabric and that'll be done tomorrow night with a friend who is a pro when it comes to computers and graphic design.  I'll be able to relax once tomorrow night is over.

What I can share with you is how much I L-O-V-E my Oliso iron.

I use my travel size Rowenta beside me as I sew... 

but when it comes to the final ironing, that's when BIG OLI takes over.  

I can't tell you how many ironing board covers I've scorched in my lifetime because I just can't make myself take that extra step to stand the iron on it's end.  With BIG OLIE, you don't have to do this because once you take your hand off the handle, the little magic genie that lives inside inside lifts the iron about an inch off the pressing surface.  The result?  No more scorch marks!!!  Yay!

They're not cheap and I've heard some negative comments about them but the company stands behind their product 100% and will replace the iron should a problem occur.  I'm very happy with mine and I'm looking forward to a long and happy relationship.

Happy stitching!

Exciting news!

You could have knocked me over with a feather!

Earlier this week I was contacted by the Creative Director from Blank Quilting Corporation...a recent acquisition by Jaftex who also owns Henry Glass fabrics, amongst others...to ask me if I would be interested in designing a line or lines of fabric for their company.

Me?  

Moi?  

Yikes!!!

I am familiar with book publishing because I've had three books published while working in the decorative painting industry but designing fabric?  Yikes!!!

After thinking about it for about 3 minutes...maybe less...you know what my answer was.  An unequivocal yes!  

I spent the first couple of days trying to wrap my head around the concept and come up with a theme, which actually wasn't very hard to do.  

Remember what I said about staying with things that are familiar and that you both like and feel comfortable with?  When I do that, then everything else falls into place quite nicely.

Our goal is to release the line at the Fall Market in Houston in October, so time is of the essence.  I've been working feverishly over the last couple of days putting my ideas on paper and have come up with the preliminary sketches.  My goal is to have the final artwork done by the end of the week.

My heart is still beating so quickly and the butterflies in my stomach are having a field day!  

I'm sooooooo excited!!!

Happy stitching!

It's A Wrap!

"Down in the Garden" is officially a flimsy!

Thank you all for confirming what I had initially planned with respect to adding another border to my quilt.

My original plan was to add a 5" red border, wide enough to scallop the edge however, when I saw it after I had added the sashing and cornerstones, I was undecided.  That's when I asked for your help.  

So instead of a 5" outside border, I added a 1" turquoise border first and then finished with the 4" red border.  I'll decide whether I will scallop it once it comes back from the quilter.

I'm really happy with the way it turned out...even though it is virtually unrecognizable when compared with the original design.

You're never going to guess what I'm going to be working on next...not in a million years!  

Stay tuned and I'll let you know really soon.

Happy stitching!