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!

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.

Quilt Minnesota, the state shop hop begins today and runs 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! You can see my special Quilt Minnesota design at shops in the Central East Section, the shops are listed below.

Bardella Fabric Arts – 763-421-9606
2013 2nd Ave N / Suite 30 / Anoka, MN 55303

Calla Lily Quilt Shop – 763-784-7166
10904 Baltimore St NE #104 / Blaine, MN 55449

Cole’s Country Treasures Quilt Shop – 763-389-0680
105 N Rum River Dr / Princeton, MN 55371

Cottage Quilts – 763-241-1490
16860 HWY 10 / Elk River, MN 55330

Country Caboose Quilts – 320-495-3658
108 S Main St / Box 10 / Wahkon, MN 56386

Fabric Fashions and More – 320-358-3693
485 S Dana / PO Box 21 / Rush City, MN 55069

Quilted Treasures – 763-428-1952
14178 Northdale Blvd / Rogers, MN 55374

Seams Like Home Quilt Shop – 218-372-8886
34079 Laketown Rd Ste 6 / Sturgeon Lake, MN 55783

Silver Lane Quilting Inc – 651-639-8800
4869 – 208th St N / Suite 104 / Forest Lake, MN 55025

The Homestead – 320-679-4422
200 S. Hwy. 65 / Mora, MN 55051

The Quilted Lighthouse – 320-384-0400
503 Old Hwy 61 N / PO Box 77 / Hinckley, MN 55037

Timeless Treasures – 218-768-2556
371 E Hwy 210 / PO Box 534 / McGregor, MN 55760

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!

Every year my family makes a trip to southern Calfornia at Spring Break to visit family.  We live in Minnesota, and you must understand what a treat it is to abandon the gray skies and melting snow for glorious California sunshine.  I try to visit local quilt shops to say hello and this year I was able to go to Quilt Ventura and catch up with Joey Strait, the shop owner. Check out the website:  http://www.quiltventura.com.  Quilt Ventura has been open for five years now and is going strong.  There is more fabric in this shop than you could imagine and lots of interesting notions and patterns too.  Joey has a wide variety of fabrics.  Everything from batiks to asian designs to florals and civil war reproductions.  If you are in the area, it’s worth a trip.  Besides, Joey is great and her staff is fabulous.