Perkins Dry Goods

I am happy to announce the winners of the Great Expectations book!  If the winners would please email me their mailing address I will get the books out to them right away.  Stay tuned for the grand prize announcement!

Comment # 789  Dorraine R.

Thank you for the tips! It’s fun to find new information. Great blog hop!!

Comment #599  Koye H.:

Thank you for the great tips!  This should be easy to remember.

Comment #522  Becky in Georgia:

Thanks for the tutorials! I’ve made many HST with the first method. This is the first time that I’ve seen the second. Very helpful! Sure enjoying the blog hop! Hopping off to look at your webshop. Take care!

If you want to be eligible for the Grand Prize drawing, today is the last day to make comments! Make sure you’ve made a comment on each designers blog the day they were featured to be eligible.  Be sure to put your email address on the comment form so we can reach you if you are the winner!

The response was so overwhelming that I will be drawing for three Great Expectations books on Saturday.   The Grand Prize drawing will happen sometime in the next week – as soon as we can get all the comments pooled and organized. Winners will be announced as soon as we have it figured out.

Don’t forget to bookmark my blog – Quilt Minnesota is July 31 – August 16, you won’t want to miss what is coming up!

Celine

The Twin Cities Shop Hop happens this weekend – I hope all of the local quilters are able to get out and visit all the shops!  I designed the quilt and wrote the free pattern being handed out step by step at each shop.

I was just over at Pat Sloan’s blog reading about the business of quilting.  I thought she did such a great job of describing things that I wanted to share the link.  Click here to go to Pat’s blog.

That got me thinking about where I started with all of this Quilt Biz too.  I had dreamed of working in a quilt shop but with a day job and little kids, the timing was always off.  Evenings and weekends were family time, and also the most common times that shops needed help!  One day in August of 2000, I was talking to Wendy Fedie who owned the Wayzata Quilting Emporium. She offered me the chance to try my hand at teaching a quilting class.  A one or two session class I could do, even if it were an evening or weekend.  That was the beginning of it all and that’s where my Four Patch Fancy pattern came into being – as a class called Table Runner Basics.  It is still a popular pattern!

When Tracy from Plumcute Designs posted pictures of her studio, I was inspired to tidy up a bit.  I have to accept the fact that I will never be as organized as I want to be.  I tend to let things get out of control, and regroup between projects.  Over the years, I’ve found a few things that have been easy to maintain and fairly inexpensive.

What a mess!  If I put this stuff out of sight,  I forget about it.

This unit is made from the shoe shelves from Target and Sterlite shoe boxes without the lids. It sits against the wall at the end of my work table and holds scraps that are sorted by color.

These closetmaid basket units hold a ton of fabric. I put tag board across the fronts to prevent fading. I made an ironing surface to put on the top. I love this thing!

The wire baskets hold lots of fabric.

The desktop and the 4″ monitor stand legs came from Ikea and the 12″ x 36″ shelf is from Home Depot. It gives me lots more desk space.

Terry Atkinson posted a darling project for an art binder that is a perfect last minute gift – for any age! Here is the binder that I made yesterday.  For project instructions click here to go to Terry’s blog.

Happy Holidays!
Celine

I thought I’d share a favorite family recipe, one that has become my family’s tradition on Christmas Eve.  You can make it ahead and just pop it in the oven to reheat.

Beef Brisket

3-4 lb Brisket
Soy Sauce
Garlic powder
Onion soup Mix

Trim excess fat and rub both sides of the meat with soy sauce – it works as a tenderizer and adds some flavor. Sprinkle both sides with garlic powder and put in a casserole dish. Put under the broiler and sear for about 5 minutes until the meat starts to sizzle a little. Sprinkle meat with onion soup mix and pour about 3/4 cup water over all.  A bit of red wine here is a nice addition too. Cover tightly with tin foil – careful the pan is still hot from the broiler.

Bake at 300 for 3-4 hours until the meat is tender.
Cool, slice and serve.  Reheat as desired.

We often have this with baked cheese potatoes and raspberry jello salad.  What can I say, it’s totally comfort food.

Happy Holidays!

We had a bunch of  trick or treat kids tonight.  More than usual.  I think the neighborhood has finally turned over to young families – it is really fun to see all of the little kids.  They really surprised us with their enthusiasm about “Swedish Fish”!  My husband brought a ton of candy home from Target, including a bag of Swedish Fish.  Never heard of it.  Of course my teens were into gummy bears and fruit snacks ((yuk)).

We are fresh out of Swedish Fish.  Go figure!

Happy Halloween!

September was an unbelievable month.  Busy with designing, busy with family.  Over the next few days I will post what’s new – the stuff that will be in my booth in Houston.  If you are at Market, stop by and see me in Booth 1704!

I have six new things, seven actually with Village Crossings from August.  I designed another tote bag that follows the Twist and Shout assembly technique.  This one is really fun because the stars don’t appear until the final steps are completed.

The new patterns will be in my webstore when I get everything back from the printer, probably next week before I leave for Houston.

World Alzheimer’s Day is September 21 and in honor of loved ones who have or have had this disease Virtual Quilt Patches are being created by quilters everywhere.

This patch is in honor of my neighbor Jim.  He now lives in a care facility close by.  Over the years he became more forgetful, lost the ability to drive, couldn’t remember how to get home.  He used to walk his little dog every day.  That became difficult too.  His wife cared for him at home for as long as she could.  His kids were and are still devoted to helping.  I can only imagine how difficult it has been for Jim and his family.

Click on the patch and it will take you to the Alzheimers Art Quilt Initiative.  You can create one of your own.