Perkins Dry Goods

My website is now up to date with new patterns!
Click here to go to the pattern page.

Market was busy and lots of fun – and I’m always glad to get home.  I was there without a full time helper – but had some really good friends make sure it all went smoothly for me.  Susan Marth (Suzn Quilts) and Robin Koehler (Nestlings by Robin) drove from the St. Louis area and brought booth supplies for me, made sure I got fed and drove me all over creation.  Susan Knapp (The Quilt Branch) spent hours helping me set up my booth, with school house and then came by frequently so I could walk a little bit of the show and eat lunch.  Pam Mathews (Pam Mathews Designs) helped with booth set up and school house.  I couldn’t have done it with out them!

One of the coolest things I saw at market was The Binding Tool by the Quilter’s Mercantile.  I’m not sure when it will be up on their website, but I know that Quilted Treasures in Rogers, MN thought it was cool too.

A few people have asked about the pattern for the large quilt in the picture. It’s the queen size quilt from the Great Expectations book.
Click here for more information.

The newest members of the Perkins Dry Goods family!

Remember When is simple, traditional and great for the collection of scraps you have in your stash…and it even works with planned fabrics too! Throw and Queen sizes. $8.50 retail.

Jewel Tote is another Twist and Shout project that surprises with the end result.  Embellish with buttons and yo-yo’s as desired. Two sizes and two styles with inside pockets to boot. $8.50 retail.

Piccadilly is simple, straightforward and traditional.  Who doesn’t love pinwheels? Great with a plan or scrappy – either way.  Runner, Throw and Queen sizes. $8.50 retail.

These patterns will be available at Market and will be on the website next week.  If you are a shop interested in wholesale and not going to market, email me here – you’ll get the market special!

October is just around the corner and Quilting Season is in full swing.  That means Quilt Market and Quilt Festival in Houston!

I have been busier than usual getting ready; finishing new patterns, getting samples ready to hang in the booth and working out the details of packing all this stuff into a suitcase and a few boxes. I will only be going to Market – not Festival and will  be in Booth 719. Quilt Market is the wholesale trade show that shop owners attend in the Fall and Spring.  They can see hundreds of new products for the Quilting Industry all in one place!

I’ll have several Market Specials for shop owners and will be doing two school house sessions.  One at 10:20 and one at 2:15 on Friday October 9th.

If you want to know even more about Market, click here to go to the Checker Distributors blog, they have a great summary with lots of good information.

Stay tuned, I’ll be posting my newest designs this week!

So much planning and now Spring Market in Pittsburgh is just a memory!  I wasn’t able to get out and around town very much, but if you check out Susan Brubaker Knapp’s blog you will see some great pictures of Pittsburgh. It is a beautiful city.

Here’s a little bit of what I was up to last weekend….

The Perkins Dry Goods booth!

Sue Daley and hubby from Patchwork with Busyfingers.

Kathy Mack from Pink Chalk Studio.

An early birthday at Buca in Station Square.

Getting around town after dinner Saturday night with Beth and Carol from Quilter’s Garden, Susan and Mary Jane from The Quilt Branch, Jane and Tammy from Thimbles in Lockport, IL and my college roommate Barb from Charlottesville.

Ok, I saved the best for last.  And I hope I’m not overwhelming you all with these posts!

I have been working hard on all of these new things and can honestly tell you that it was worth it – thank goodness my husband does all the cooking around here!

Introducing my new book and versatile Block of the Month……

Great Expectations!

Four Fabulous quilts with an easy medallion centerpiece.  These projects are all straight-set and look more complex than they really are!  The book has twenty pages is $14.99 retail and will be available in quilt shops and on my website by mid-May.

Two more additions to the Just for Fun! pattern series. These little patterns retail for $6.00 and will be available in quilt shops and on my website soon!

Four Patch Topper is charm friendly, no border fabric required and a quick technique for those Y-Blocks makes this design a winner.

A secret about Fortune Teller is that there is not one single triangle in the project (except the big ones in the corners!).  Super easy, super quick.  Charm and Layer Cake friendly too!

This year has been a busy one for Perkins Dry Goods and I am happy to show you some of the new things that will be introduced at Quilt Market in Pittsburgh!

This new Just for Fun! design is just that – fun!  It goes together quickly, and I think makes a statement as a wallhanging or table topper.  Medallion Star will be available from quilt shops and on my website after May 18th.

There are lots of things that happen at Quilt Market…people from magazines stopping by the booth, asking questions about your products, taking samples for possible inclusion in future issues. You never know when or if these contacts will turn into anything – they are important though!

I just found out that QuiltMaker magazine has featured my Perfect Piecing Seam guide in the March/April issue (page 56)!  How cool is that?  Thanks QuiltMaker!

The deal with this seam guide is that it allows you to mark your machine bed at a scant 1/4″.   Scant means “just shy of”, which is a very technical term.  In actuality, it is a thread or two less than a full 1/4″ and makes it easier to piece your blocks accurately.  There is a little hole in just the right spot that you lower the needle through and then put the presser foot down to hold it in place so you can mark your machine bed with a post-it or piece of tape.

I’ve found that beginners like it because it helps them get on track with that pesky 1/4″ seam allowance, and experienced quilters like it too.  If you have more than one machine (a big fancy one at home and one you take to class or retreats), the seam guide lets you standardize your seam allowance between the two!

It hasn’t really taken me this long to recover from market, time is just flying by these days.  My friend Jenni was able to come with me this time – she is a huge support and it’s always a blast when she’s around. We usually rent a car and she navigates for me – a good thing!

I didn’t have much time to run around but I was able to get pictures of a couple of other friends in their booths.  Here are the Late Bloomers gals – Elizabeth and Pam (aka PamKittyMorning).  They were just down the aisle from me.  Elizabeth outdid herself with new designs this time – I just love that soft look!

Another friend, Susan Marth from Suzn Quilts was there too, she had neat new things – be sure to check them out at her website.  It was great to catch up with so many long distance friends.

I splurged on new flooring for this market.  Standing on concrete for three days is painful.  I loved the cushy foam floor tiles – and they even had them in a wood look!

In the heat of quilt market preparation last month, I was saved by chocolate.  Last minute and me are not good partners.  If you know me, you know that I am methodical and organized.  I don’t do harried and rushed well at all.  I was late getting my pattern covers for new stuff to the printer, which meant I might be stuffing bags in the hotel Friday night before market opened.  YUK.

I phoned Jane at Tri-State Printing and groveled a bit – she was so very nice and didn’t make me feel bad at all.  She was calm, she was kind and would overnight a partial order to me so I could bag enough patterns to ship ahead to Houston.  Low and behold those covers came, crammed into that overnight envelope along with two mini chocolate candy bars.

Okay, fast forward to a month later…… Market was great.  I think  mentioned in my Middle Name Game post that I met some fantastic new people and connected with old friends.  Better than a college reunion!

Now for the new stuff… I’m very excited about these four new designs.  I hope you like them!

Twist and Shout Tote is a fun little pattern that has a ton of options. Two styles and three sizes for each style!  I did these with Jelly Rolls and Charms.

Three for Tea is another jelly roll project that you could adapt to charms too.  Two runners and a small topper can all be pieced from one jelly roll with a bit of yardage for borders and binding.  I also included scalloping instructions for the corners on the topper.

Summit Square is a very traditional scrappy project that has two quilt sizes and a quick runner that you can make from your scraps.  I use the Civil War Classics line from Marcus Fabrics and just love how it turned out!

Country Lane is my first effort using the Sweet Sixteen (TM) charms from Maywood Studios.  These are a fat sixteenth of a yard and cut at 9 x 11 inches.  It was kind of fun to see the secondary pattern emerge.  Two main blocks and a simple pieced border in this project.