Block 6 Hospitality

http://www.scribd.com/doc/25900608/Block-6-Hospitality Okay ladies, here is block 6. It consists of 4 little pineapples, the symbol of hospitality. There are only 2 templates for this block. I have been getting emails about placement on some of the blocks, so here are a couple of hints.
*remember your block is on point
*fold and crease your block on the horizontal and vertical
*position each pineapple so that the point at the bottom is close to center and the edges of the leafy part are close to your fold lines. The bottom will not be all the way to the center or they will overlap.
*the leaf template has a dotted line for lining up the fruit piece.
Happy Quilting! Don't forget to post your block photos and check out the Quilt Mash Up link on the sidebar.
There seems to be some confusion over the templates. The green leafy part is one template. You stitch it down and then layer the gold fruit piece on top and stitch it down.
Also, if you are a no-reply blogger, I am unable to answer you personally.
Hope this helps, if not email me.

Sneak Peek

I thought I would give you a little sneak peek of something I have been working on. Some time back Moda generously sent me a layer cake to design with. The fabric is the lovely Martinique by 3 Sisters. It is to die for! Designing with a layer cake is something new for me and I had to think awhile to come up with an idea that would be in my style within the limitations of the layer cake. Well, it is done and here is a sneak peek. The pattern is called French Wrens. It uses 1 layer cake and no additional fabric except for binding and backing of course. The pattern is being published as a Hot Off the Presses pattern by the KC Star and is set to be on the market around the same time the fabric is available, which should be late Feb. or March. What do you think? It was a lot of fun to do and I am thinking of doing a second version in different fabric. When the pattern becomes available I will do a giveaway, so keep watching.

Good Friends, Civil War Soldiers and A Murderer

Did that title get your attention??

I am one of 5 friends who get together regularly to sew, shop hop and have fun. Sometimes we do little retreats and sometimes we meet at each other's homes for a day of sewing, food and talk. This past Sunday 3 of us made it through the nasty weather for just such a day at Ann's house.

Her house has a lot of interesting history. It was built prior to the Civil War by a well known family in Boone County. There were once slave quarters on the property. Beams from the slave cabins were salvaged and now are on the ceiling in the kitchen.

When you enter the front door you are greeted by this gorgeous curving staircase.

This is the front door. The stain glass is awesome. It was a very snowy, dreery day so the photo doesn't do it justice.

This is the wall in the dining room. The fireplace is surrounded in gorgeous carved wood. The house is really wonderful. Wondering about the rest of the title?? Well, during the Civil War, the house was taken over by a troop of soldiers and used as a temporary headquarters. And as for the murderer,,, sometime and I am uncertain of the time, maybe 1960s. There was a man who owned the house and ground. It was found that he would employ migrant workers to work on the farm and then he killed them. How do like that for a history? If walls could talk, huh?
It was a great day. Good company and lots of sewing.

Block 5 And Yes I Am Still Here

http://www.scribd.com/doc/24650534/Block-5-Wreath-of-Cherries (The link.)

Happy New Year to all! Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas or whatever you celebrate. I have had some emails inquiring as to my whereabouts. I am still here. I have had a million things going on with family, several deadlines to meet and the Holidays. Sorry I have been gone so long. This month's block is a Wreath of Cherries. For those of you working from your stash, this block is great for using up small pieces. It takes very little fabric to make a cherry or a leaf. The more variety of fabrics make the block more interesting.

I have had some new quilters join the BOM so I thought I would go over the particulars.

This is Block 5 for Jan. I usually post the blocks a week early if possible.

All blocks are 12" finished and set on point.

Everyone is encouraged to use fabric from their stash.

The last block will be in June, and in July we will do the sashing and borders.

The outer border is appliqued.

There are no rules! Make it with whatever method you like! Have fun!

The quilt ,when finished, will measure about 70" x 70".

On my sidebar, you will see two links. One is for a quilt forum called Quilt Mash up. This is a chat forum set up by Pat Sloan. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to join. It is a great place to share and get tips. The other link is for the flickr page for all of you to post the photos of your blocks. Don't be shy, we all want to see.

All blocks are still available. Just go to the post and click on the link.

Vicksburg Month 4

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22909200/Ribbon-Wreath

Okay, since next week is a holiday week with a million things going on I am giving you the next block for the BOM today. This month's block is a ribbon wreath with a star in the center. This is pretty simple and fast to stitch. I have a photo of the block as well as a photo of the blocks we have done so far. Remember there will be sashing between the blocks so don't start setting them together yet. I have shown them like this just for a visual. It's starting to look like a quilt. Are you getting excited yet? I have been asked about size on this quilt. It will be about a 65" square when finished, which is a pretty good size for a free quilt. You are using your FREE stash fabric, right? How many of you have bought fabric for this project?

Make sure to click on the link on my sidebar for the Pat Sloan quilt mashup forum and flickr page. This let's you stay connected with others working on the same project. There are some great photos on the flickr page. Happy Quilting and Happy Thanksgiving.

Good Friends and Good Fortune

Through the power of the internet I have been able to meet and make friends with many people I might never have met otherwise. One of those people is Jaquelynne Steves. Jaquelynne is a force of nature. She designs quilts, pins, stationary, you name it. She is an incredible artist and I would not be surprised if she didn't start designing fabric. She hand paints these incredible pins and then donates all the proceeds to buy wells for villages in need of clean drinking water. How about that ??

Head on over to her blog at http://www.thenoblewife.blogspot.com/ and check out all she has to offer. Now if you are wondering how it came to be that I have one of these awesome pins..... I have been following Jaquelynne's blog for quite awhile and recently she had a surprise giveaway and I won!

That's right, along with the pin I also won a holiday cd, a candle(smells yummy) and stationary designed by Jaquelynne herself.

Don't you just love it??

I also read the blog of Brenda Mercado. Brenda owns Pumpkin Patch Primitives Quilt Shoppe. If the name sounds familiar, you have probably seen their ads in American Patchwork and Quilting. If you haven't been to the blog http://pumpkinpatchprimitivequiltshoppe.blogspot.com/ you should head there now. Brenda is one of the most fun and upbeat people around and it is reflected in her blog. Make sure you check out the quilt shop. She carries a great variety of fabric, Windham, Whimsicals, Maywood Studios, you name it. She also has a fantastic selection of patterns and books, as well as gift items. She just had a giveaway too and I won a $100 gift certificate! Can you believe it? There was so much to choose from that I had a hard time choosing. I finally settled on fabric for a couple of quilts Iwill be doing for publication. When they are published I will be sure to add P. Patch as the supplier of the awesome fabric.

Yummy. So go blog surfing, you never know who you'll meet.

Deb Rowden

Thursday night was my guild meeting and Deb Rowden was our speaker. Deb is a wonderful speaker, very warm and always a smile on her face. She has spoken at our guild before and is a favorite. Needless to say she pulled quite a crowd. Deb is an editor for the KC Star books as well as an author. Her latest book, Making Memories, was the focus of her presentation. She brought many quilts with her and sparked alot of ideas. This quilt has an inked date of 1848.

This is a friendship quilt from her time in Germany. The little glitzy quilt below was made by Barbara Brackman as a mourning quilt when she lost her dog, Lexie.

I thought these gloves were darling.

The book is called Making Memories and her blog is www.debrowden.blogspot.com