MIA

Well it has been a month almost since I left for Paducah and I am just now posting. This is a shot of the booth. It was already into the third day when I shot this so things are a little picked over. How was it? Well, here is my story.
Drove 5 hours to Paducah, four of them were in the rain. I was alone so I listened to a book on tape and really enjoyed it. The book was The Postcard Killers by James Patterson. (I have loved James forever.) Got to Paducah and set up pretty quickly. FYI my booth was all packed into my Ford Focus. Headed to my hotel to relax.
I had made my hotel reservations way back in November via Orbitz so I got a fantastic rate. I show up at the hotel with my confirmation email all ready to go. They check me in and ask for almost $200 more than what my guarantee was. I tried to explain to the manager but he was the absolute nastiest person I have EVER encountered. He informed me that he had nothing to do with Orbitz, Priceline or anything else and he would absolutely under no circumstances let me have the room for that rate. He refused to look at my papers. In the meantime a couple from Oklahoma had arrived. Apparently they had already been there and ran into the same thing and they were back with their confirmation info. I promptly got on the phone to Orbitz to get some backup. While I was on the phone the manager guy told the couple from Oklahoma " I don't care if you flew 15 damn hours, you will not get the room". Direct quote.
Long story short, I stayed on the phone with Orbitz and they backed me totally and he finally relented and gave me my room. I recommend using Orbitz for your reservations. If I had not I would have been out of luck. They were not backing down and that saved the day.

So anyway. I had a great show. I met a lot of great folks and saw a ton of familiar faces. Many thanks to all who stopped by. I was super busy on Wed. and Thurs. Friday was slower and Sat was really slow but it rained like crazy.
I drove home on Sunday and unpacked. Ran errands on Monday. Worked my real job on Tues. and Wed. On Thursday I got up at 5 am and headed to Paola Kansas. I did 2 trunkshows with the lovely folks of the Miami County Quilt Guild. Drove home in a BLIZZARD! May 2 and I am caught in a blizzard. It took an extra hour and a half to get home.  Since then it has warmed up and everything is growing like crazy which has kept us super busy with the new place.
I sat out spring market for the first time in several years. We had so much going on here at home and I really didn't have enough new stuff to warrant a trip to Portland. I am working on some really big patterns and plan to have a booth in the fall in Houston. I am also working up a book proposal so new stuff is in the works.
Now you know where I have been and what I have been doing. Hopefully it won't be so long between posts next time.
Happy Quilting, Dawn

Paducah

I am packing up the car to head to Paducah. I am vending there for the first time. Believe it or not this is my first time attending the show in Paducah and I am really excited to go. My booth is #4621 and I am in the pavilion  If you go the show be sure to stop and say hi! The great thing about shows like this is you get to meet so many great people. 

I am driving down and setting up by myself. I will also be manning the booth alone on Wednesday and Thursday. It may make for an interesting day trying to figure out potty breaks! I have two longtime friends coming in Thursday night who will help on Fri. and Sat as well as take down.

I have a 4 new wool patterns that are coming out for Spring. Two of them are ready now.

This is the first. It is wool on wool. Both of these patterns are adaptations of antique designs. I think they look great in wool!

This one is also wool on wool and I absolutely love it. It is going on my antique dresser in the foyer. I love the old robin's egg blue wool for the background. 

I will have the other 2 patterns ready after I return. If anyone orders any patterns this week they will ship out next Monday. 

Happy Quilting,

Dawn

French Wrens

French Wrens is the first single pattern I designed. Moda sent me a layer cake bundle of Martinique from 3 Sisters and this is what I made from it.It is a very traditional design and uses one layer cake bundle. NO additional yardage needed.  This pattern has been extremely popular and  had to be reprinted. I did the pattern in partnership with Kansas City Star, my book publisher and as always they did a fantastic job.
It has been sold out in my online store for awhile. I have had several requests for the pattern and it is now back in stock.
Happy Quilting, Dawn

Breaking Down Baltimore Folk Album

My Baltimore Folk Album pattern started shipping to stores last June. It has been a popular pattern and many shops are using as a BOM. This is fantastic! However, it seems that there are a large group of quilters out there who really love the pattern but think it is either too hard or will take too long. Well, this post is for you!

When I designed this quilt the idea was to create a Baltimore Album style quilt that would be "do-able" for most people. Every block is a block that would be in a Baltimore Album quilt but much simpler. I do mean much simpler, I drew the blocks folks. The blocks finish at 9 1/2" and do not have lots of layers.The pieces have been given a folk art feel. That means that they are much easier to stitch. 

When I started the original quilt I also envisioned it in wool. I only had time to stitch one version and so I chose to go with cotton using the needleturn method. The lovely folks at Moda had sent me the Comfort- Collection for a Cause line and I am always a sucker for their Collection for Cause fabrics so that is the route I went with. I think the fabric makes it look a little more elaborate than it is. It is very scrappy because I used the entire line. This really adds a lot of "busy-ness" to the quilt. 

So I decided to take the time to make a wool version to show you how simple it really is.

This is the exact same quilt made from wool on cotton. Much simpler look? I think so. The wool is very graphic and to your eye it reads as a solid which makes the lines of the pieces easier to see. 

Any quilt is only as hard as it's individual pieces. Break it down one block at a time. Don't sell yourself short by assuming that something is too hard. This block is probably the most complex of any of the blocks. You can cut and stitch a block in an afternoon using wool. Seriously! There are 25 blocks not counting the borders so in 25 days of stitching, you can have your quilt center stitched. Easy peasy.

The top has not been quilted so the photos are kinda wonky but you get the jist of what they look like.

 Easy little ship block. 

Now doesn't that look like fun??

Happy  Quilting,

Dawn

Happy Valentine's Day!

I Left My Heart in Paris, a layer cake pattern. On SALE today for $7.00.

Happy Mardi Gras

Somerset

I am late in posting this. In the last 2 1/2 weeks I have divided my time between 3 states. I went to O'Fallon Illinois where I did a trunk show and wool on cotton workshop. Back home to Missouri and then I headed north to Waterloo Iowa. I did a trunk show and two workshops in Iowa for the Cabin Fever Retreat hosted by the Grout Museum. I send many thanks to all who attended my trunk shows and workshops in both venues. It is so fantastic to meet new quilters and share our passion. I received a super warm welcome in both places. Thanks to you all!

This is my quilt Somerset. Remember I said that I would have a big project in Primitive Quilts and Projects magazine? Well this is it.

Sorry for the poor photos. I don't have the quilt and did not photograph it before it shipped off so I had to do some magic scanning. 

Anyway, it is a medallion quilt that will be presented in a 4- part series. One section in each of the four 2013 issues. This first part gives you directions for the center applique and the hourglass borders. It is a fairly easy quilt to create. Simple pieced blocks and of course folk art applique. Breaking it down in 4 sections makes it easy to fit into your schedule as well. The magazine comes out every three months so you have three months to complete each section and will have a complete top at the end of the year.  I hope you like it and stitch along. If you do, make sure to send photos of your work! I would love to see your version.

Happy Quilting,

Dawn

Finally!

I can't seem to get this photo to turn right side up for nothing! Makes me insane. Anyway, the pattern for the Sunnyside Sampler is now available! If you lean all the way to the right you can get the jist of what it looks like. The quilt measures 58" x 68" and is actually pretty easy to make. The pieced blocks are all very simple and the applique is chunky folk art style pieces. This quilt is based on an album quilt made in 1894 in Ohio by school kids for their teacher. The applique pieces are all full size (NO ENLARGING) and the pattern is in color. It retails for $22.00

Keep Your Eyes Open

Soon you will find this in your mailbox, if you subscribe. If you don't ( I can't imagine why not!) it will be in stores shortly. This is the new cover look. The girls at Homespun Media have truly worked their tails off to get this magazine up and going. They have been super vigilant to make it the best it can be and I think the little tweaks they have made are fantastic. This new issue will have 16 new designs! I mentioned before that I have a special project in this issue and I will share soon.
Happy Quilting,
Dawn