Perkins Dry Goods

Quilt Minnesota is a huge shop hop that was held last year for the first time. It was such a great success, that it will be happening again this year from August 1st through August 17th!

The state is divided into 7 sections and there are prizes to be won for visiting a certain number of shops. You can see all of the participating shops at the QuiltMN website.

Each of the 7 sections will feature a unique quilt designed by a Minnesota designer. I am thrilled to have been asked to be a featured designer! But the quilt is a secret until the shop hop starts…stay tuned!

The list includes: Terry Atkinson, Lynette Jensen, Linda Hohag, Heather Mulder, Sherri Falls and Gudrun Erla.

I just had to share a picture of my oldest son as a four year old. He will graduate from high school next month. I remember taking this picture like it was yesterday.

During one of my many wanderings around the net, I stumbled upon this rotary cutting tutorial at the purl bee. I thought it was really good since it reiterates things that I think are important! You will see how to use two rulers to straighten your fabric, good safety tips and basics on cutting strips and how to cut squares from strips. Enjoy!

If you are a knitter/crocheter there are tons of fun things on this blog as well!

Celine

I’ve got patterns! The printer moved quickly for me and the new pattern ~ Starlight ~ is now available on the website (click here to go to the patterns).  I just love this Urban Indigo line from Moda.  I’ve got Dandelion Girl fat quarters calling my name too.  Hmmmm.

The patterns will be available soon through my distributors for quiltshops.  It may take a few weeks for all of the inventory to get where it needs to go.

I also spent Monday in Amery, Wisconsin with the Apple River Quilt Guild.  We had a class using my Sweet Pea pattern and then a trunk show in the evening.  Another great group!

Lots of things have been happening around here. The big news is the new look. I hope you like it! Now my blog and website work together as a team, thanks to Gloria, Derry and Andrew and Gloderworks. I still have some fine tuning to do, but for the most part I think things are looking really good.

We just returned from Spring Break, which was wonderful. The trip to Virginia and Washington, D.C. combined the best of both worlds. The monuments and historical floral and fauna is overwhelming.

The first part of the trip was to Charlottesville, VA. Home of the University of Virginia and my college roommate Barb (on the right). What a beautiful day it was and our visit to Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson was fabulous.

Here is the view of the Washington monument as seen from the (top of the steps) at the Lincoln Memorial.

There is a story for every monument in the area. Now, this obelisk shaped monument was designed by Robert Mills and by law, no other building in Washington, D.C. can be taller. Construction began in 1848, and stopped in 1856 when funds ran low. Work began again in 1876 and the monument was completed, opening to the public in 1888. It is truly spectacular.

The quilty part of the trip was made possible by my friend Pam Matthews who drove me over 130 miles across the Virginia countryside to quilt shops! We visited the Jinny Beyer Studio, Web Fabrics and Treasures from The Heart pictured here. What a lovely day!

We are off to Washington DC for a few days for Spring Break. Couldn’t have planned it better as the Cherry Blossom Festival starts on Saturday. I am very excited - this is my first visit to the Capitol! We will also be visiting friends in Charlottesville, VA and my friend Pam Matthews from Alexandria is going to pick me up for a day touring the area quilt shops.

Stay tuned for pictures!

The Mixed Sampler retreat was a lot of fun. And a great group of women! There were about 25 quilters and the room we had to sew in was fantastic with big windows and lots of light (plenty of power too). We worked on the mystery quilt first. This is the second pattern I’ve written as a mystery. I think everyone enjoyed it, although I was a little worried about some of the piecing as it was a little challenging.

As you can see, if you’ve been here before, I’ve got a new look. And while it was being installed, wordpress updated its entire interface. SOOOOO, I’m playing catch up.

I’m off to the Mixed Sampler Retreat at the ARC Camp in Osceola, Wisconsin.  The weather will be delightfully warm - we’ve been in the 40’s now for two days, snow is melting and the second quilt came off of the bed!

I’ll be teaching two classes, a mystery which will be published as a pattern for spring market, and Summit Square which was new last fall.

I’m looking forward to making new friends and and time away from the busy-ness at home!

Rosie, my assistant happily tests quilts.

Tracy from Plumcute tagged me yesterday.  This was after a long conversation about how much time we waste wandering around the internet looking for things like glue bottle tips or that perfect font…. 

I’m happy to perpetuate efficient use of time, so here are the rules:

1. When tagged, place the name of the person and URL on your blog.

2. Post the rules on your blog.

3. Write 7 things about yourself .

4. Name 7 of your favorite weblogs .

5. Send an e-mail letting those bloggers know they have been tagged .

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1.  My favorite color is pink.  My husband knows that no matter what he gives me for my birthday or Christmas, that I will love it if it is pink (most of the time).  Didn’t care too much for the coral choker he gave me in 1985, but just about everything else has been a winner.2. I don’t know what my true hair color is.  It used to be dark blonde.  That’s the fantasy I pay my hair stylist to keep alive for me.

3. I was never a cheerleader.  Not for lack of trying.  If anyone has ever seen me in a jazzersize class, they know immediately why I never made the squad.

4. I love to drive.  I get great pleasure out of the fact that I can park my minivan just about anywhere.  I have only backed into the trash cans once in 33 years. 

5.  I have always wished I was a drummer in a rock and roll band.  Not one ounce of musical talent in this kid.

6.  I can catch a mouse with a dixie cup.  Yes folks, when the kittiots bring the mice up from the basement to play with, I capture them under a dixie cup.  We only have mice in the fall when it starts to get cold outside. 

7.  My first computer was a MacPlus.  It cost more than my first car and had a whopping 20MB hard drive.

I have lots of favorite blogs, but don’t know the bloggers well enough to tag them.  But I’ll list them anyway!

I’ll tag back Tracy at Plumcute -but she doesn’t have to do the game again.  Here’s to Pam at PamKittyMorning.  She’s been tagged a few times now.  Gudrun, another Minnesoooota designer.  Kathy at Pink Chalk Studio.  Pat Sloan’s Corner.  Tammy  Tadd,  Roseann at Rosebud’s Cottage and Annie Smith at Simple Arts (she’s having blog issues at the moment).

So there you have it!

Sorry for the pun but I couldn’t resist.  This Bambi has been walking through our backyard for the past two weeks.  She ususally comes with 4 or 5 of her best friends.  They bed down in the woods behind the shed at night.  Granted, we live near from a nature preserve, but it still amazes me that these guys are here in the middle of a major metropolitan area.

Now onto the bigger news.  We celebrated my son’s 18th birthday this month!  Boy did he grow up fast!  Here’s his sister trying to steal his thunder - as usual.  She wasn’t quick enough.  This has been a busy winter with college searches, auditions and concerts.

I have known how to knit for a very long time. I learned when I was about 8 years old (yup, in the 60’s).  My mom took me to Donalson’s Department store - the one in Highland Park (St. Paul, MN).  They sold yarn and fabric there in those days.  One of the clerks taught me to knit.  But that’s all I learned.  I never really got the hang of reading the instructions to make anything.  Well, that has all changed.  I signed up for a class with my quilter friend Jenni.  But I wanted some practice BEFORE we got to class, so I made a pair of regular mittens!

Jenni was very helpful, she knits a lot.  She walked me through several knitting emergencies and I think I only started over three or four times.  I think the mittens look lovely.  The thumbs are a bit short and one mitten is bigger than the other.  But, they are finished and they are warm!