Perkins Dry Goods

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.

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’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!

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!

You know you’re going to have good day when the kids all get up on time and are out the door without a hitch.  I love those days!  With three teens in my house, “good morning” is often a question rather than a greeting!

An even better sign is getting an email first thing (after the darlings have gone) from a new friend with show and tell.  Janet, the Idaho Quilter made up one of my new patterns – Three for Tea -  in the cutest new line from Fig Tree – Dandelion Girl.  I just love it!  She even scalloped the corners just like the pattern.

Speaking of scallops, they are one of my all time favorite things to do with borders.  Lots of people are afraid of them, but they really aren’t that bad!  The best part is the bias binding.  I know you’re reading this thinking “she’s nuts!”  If you read Janet’s blog about the binding, she even says it just rolls into place.

If you want just a little project to try out the scalloping biz and bias binding, I have a free pattern at my website for a little checkerboard topper.  Let me know what you think!

Ok, here goes.  I got tagged for the middle name game in September by my friend Tracy.  So, I finish the task right away and realize that I don’t know enough bloggers to tag anyone back! So into the drafts file this goes. Now that I am back from quilt market in Houston and can breathe, I thought I’d at least post what I came up with.  Besides that, I met and had dinner with the famous Pamkittymorning!  I’ll fill you in later on my market experiences. 

The Rules: 
Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had. When you are tagged you need to write your own blog post containing your own middle name game facts. At the end of your blog post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Here goes:  Therese

Therese was my grandmother’s name and I am proud to be her namesake.  She was a hard working German woman who grew up in Strasburg, North Dakota (yes, with Lawrence Welk).  She loved all of us kids and we loved her back.  She made the best sugar cookies in the world, topped only by her cinnamon rolls and home made donuts.  We used to sneak them out of the freezer and eat them in her back yard during our summer visits.  She was the best and I miss her dearly.

Home is where I love to be. 

Evenings in front of the fire place with my family during the long Minnesota winters.

Running my kids around is what I spend much of my time doing.  What a blessing that driver’s license was for my oldest last March.

E-mail – What did I do before it was invented? 

Sewing is my obsession.  I have loved to sew since I was a little girl.  My mom sewed our clothes and the best thing was making clothes for my Barbie doll with the scraps.  I would sew those scraps right onto her.

Eating my husband’s cooking.  It’s like eating in a gourmet restaurant most nights around here.  He loves to cook and we love to eat.  My kids never ask me what’s for dinner.  They just call their dad.

There.  I did it!

Every year the state quilt guild hosts this huge show in June.  It was in St. Paul, MN  last weekend and I was able to go.  Actually I made the time to go and I am so glad that I did!  My friend Susan Nelson’s quilt got Best of Show for Wall Quilts!  This quilt also placed 1st at Road to California this year,  2nd in Paducah in 2006, 3rd in Houston last fall and 2nd at NQA!  Just so you know, this is not applique.  Susan machine pieced this entire quilt.

Swish and Swirl by Susan Nelson

The shopping experience is always fun with all of the vendors.  I found this cool ruler by Open Gate Quilts at http://opengatequilts.com called Fit to Be Square.  It has guidelines specifically for trimming square in a square blocks.  This is not to be confused with the Square in a Square ruler by Jodi Barrows.