Perkins Dry Goods

I found out who made this quilt….Arlice Olson!  My friend Elaine from Silver Lane Quilting helped Arlice pick the fabric for the quilt, in fact it is how they met shortly after Elaine opened her quilt shop.  When Arlice called with the Blue Ribbon news, they agreed that it was just the icing on their quilting friendship.  Thanks Elaine, for letting me know! And congrats to Arlice!

Our Grandpa’s Best pattern was taught as a class at a retreat in Lake Tahoe.  Anna Osborn is one of the organizers and she was kind enough to send pictures.  You can see them in the Gallery here.  They also had an unexpected attendee – a quilting bear!  The bear wandered on, but I can just imagine the excitement it must have caused!

I didn’t go to the Fair this year, or as it’s called around these parts, the Great Minnesota Get Together.  I usually never miss it.  But this year there was just too much going on, so I took advantage of the quiet in the house while the rest of my family spent the day eating anything they could find on a stick.  Here’s the webiste: http://www.mnstatefair.org if you are interested in checking things out.

Speaking of the Fair, my friend Roseann Kermes (Rosebud’s Cottage) is a hard core Fair lover.  In fact she has a booth at the fair – 10 days worth.  It’s in Heritage Square and worth the trip!  She has lots of cool stuff about the Fair on her blog.  As I was reading it, I came upon an award winning quilt in the category of First Pieced Quilt – it was made from my Grandpa’s Best pattern!  I would love to know who made it.

My technical issues of yesterday have moved on! Gremlins be gone!! This is a poster that Moda printed for the Quilt Minnesota event – I was so pleasantly surprised to see my quilt featured on it!

Here is the pattern cover, done with the Hemming House fabric line by Moda.

Iowa Quilters In Need

I am sure many of you are aware of the floods in the midwest this past month. Felllow designer Gudrun Erla recently spent a few days in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, lecturing and teaching for the Eastern Iowa Heirloom Quilters. It is a large guild with wonderful ladies. Just a few days later those floods hit and many of the guild members homes were flooded. Gudrun is sponsoring a “Quilt Supply” drive for this guild. If you are interested in more information, click HERE to go to Gudrun’s blog.

I would like to feature quilts made from my patterns in the Gallery on the Perkins Dry Goods website. I know that dealing with images can be daunting…..so I am sweetening the pot. If you send me a picture of a project you made from one of my patterns, I will send you a free pattern. This is a time limited offer for the first 10 people who respond with images that I can use.

The rules are simple:

1. One pattern per person, even if you send multiple pictures.
2. Click here for submission guidelines.

Thank you to Pam in Kansas City! She sent images of three Grandpa’s Best quilts that she made. Here is one of them ~ click here to see the others.

My friend Jenni kindly reminded me that I need to update my blog. It’s been almost a month, point taken!

Lots of things have been happening here. Son #1 graduated from high school, twin niece and nephew made their first communion, I celebrated a major birthday with a surprise party thrown by my wonderful husband and children. We had family visit from California and Colorado. There hasn’t been this much going on since we had babies being baptized!

Big news around here is about the Iowa flooding. Having a son who is looking forward to starting at the University of Iowa in Iowa City this fall has given this disaster a whole new meaning.  I can’t imagine going through something like that.  The people involved have been so very supportive of one another.  Click here to see images on campus. And an excellent flood information blog by the University News Service.

New projects have also been in the works – still not ready enough to share too much about, but here’s a sneak peak at some of the fabrics I’m auditioning.

More quilty topics coming soon – I promise!

Things in this design studio have been a bit wild lately. Graduation and Prom along with end of year banquets, award ceremonies and baseball have taken over. I have to say that sending my two kids off dressed to the nines was kind of thrilling. My son is on the left and daughter in the blue dress.

Never fear though, I have been working furiously on the Quilt MN Quilt for the pattern cover, writing the “step cards” that each shop will hand out. Elaine from Silver Lane Quilting has been very kind with her editing assistance! Her son Doug helped with the first round of pattern testing – I know many of you met him in Houston last fall.

I would love to feature quilts made from Perkins Dry Goods patterns in a Virtual Quilt Show on my website in the Gallery. Carol Miller from Quilt University suggested this as a great way for people to see lots of options and colorways made from one design. I think she is brilliant! BUT I need your quilt pictures!!

If you are interested in having me post a project that you made from one of my patterns, click here for more information.

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.