SEWN

If you notice on the left of my blog is a big red button that says SEWN. This is a great new site that will launch on June 8. It has everything you can think of relating to sewing. As a participating blog I will be doing a giveaway on June 8. Leave a comment to participate. If you already left a comment on the pincushions you are in. Guess what I am giving away. You got it , a Lily Pincushion and the pattern. So check out Sewn and leave a comment.

Lax Blogger

Today I got a friendly email reminder that I had not posted since May 18. So...I am posting ,Darlene. Seriously though my life has been chaos, more so than usual. I have had a lot marketing things related to my book, trip to Nebraska and I have a 15 and 16 year that live in my house. Also, I am president of the day chapter of my quilt guild and the year ends July1. I have some last minute things to do there. One of the things is I have to do is come up with thank you gifts for the members of my board. There are 9 members and they have been a treat to work with. Everyone has done their jobs to a degree above what is expected. There has been no bickering, everyone has got along. I am very thankful to them for all their hard work. I have given alot of thought to what to give as a gift and what I came up with is.. I will make them each a pincushion. I made one of these lily pincushions to see what you guys think. So you will have to comment to let me know if you think it is a go or not.

They will be made in different fabrics. Each will measure 4x4 square and is filled with crushed walnuts. I have to have 9 made by Monday morning so let me know what you think. Be honest girls, I trust your judgement. Be sure to leave a comment, you never know this could be a giveaway......

International Quilt Study Center and Museum

I am home from Nebraska, the laundry is caught up, I have rested and now back to work. A group of 24 from my guild took a bus to the International Quilt Study Center and Museum. If you haven't been I recommend you go. The building is only a year old and is state of the art. They have 3000 quilts in their collection and the exhibits rotate. You can check their website to see the quilts and find out what is on exhibit. While we were there we saw a collection of Chintz quilts and quilts by Grace Snyder. The chintz was extraordinary but I am particularly drawn to the Snyder quilts. I am a sucker for a good story. If you don't know about Grace check out her memoir, No Time on My Hands. Grace was the wife and daughter of ranchers. She made many show quilts, the most famous Petit Point Baskets. This quilt was made of 87'000 tiny pieces she stitched by hand to perfection. It was finished in 18 months in 1943. It was chosen as one of the top 100 quilts of the century. Grace was inducted into the Quilters Hall of Fame at age 98 in the year 1980.

Photography is not allowed in the museum but I have a couple of photos of the outside and the tour guide pamplets.

Have I sparked your interest? Start planning your trip.

P.S.We hit 4 quilt shops too.

Busy Days

It has been really busy around here. Yesterday I had 2 book signings in the St. Louis area. The first at Raspberry Patch in Cottleville. Raspberry Patch just moved into a new location and it is just wonderful. It's the kind of shop you could spend the night in. They have a wonderful selection of fabric and I always find something I can't live without.

Next we went to Patches Etc. in Historic St. Charles. This is one of my favorite places to go. Shop after shop of wonderful things all in old historic buildings and houses. Patches is located in one of these buildings with wonderful whitewashed brick walls and a little balcony overhead. If you love embroidery they have a great selection of Crabapple Hill patterns. I did a little shopping there too. And next door is a fabulous cross stitch shop that I always stop at.The sun was shining and it was just a beautiful day.

Today will be a visit to my mom,I got her a great Crabapple Hill pattern for Mother's Day. (Maybe she will make something for me. She does the best embroidery) After that I have to get labels on my quilts for market. Edie McGinnis and Jan Patek are driving the Star quilts to market in Pittsburgh. I had to have my quilts for the signings yesterday so Edie and Jan are doing a quick pitstop here to pick my quilts up and off to market they go. They are my current heros. And while my quilts are at market woking for me I will be in Lincoln Nebraska at the International Quilt Study Center. Hopefully I will have pics for you guys from the trip.

And The Winner Is....

First, I would like to say WOW! What a great response. Thank you to all who left comments and posted about the giveaway. I had a lot of compliments on the cover and I am so glad to hear that you all like it. I wish I could give everyone a book but that is impossible.

I wanted to make this absolutely fair to everyone so I wrote down each person in order as they commented and assigned a number. If you posted you received 2 extra numbers. In total they ran from 1-200. I then used a random number generator on Random.org. And the totally random number is 61.

Number 61 is Shauna who came thru Quilt Hollow. Shauna email me your address and I will ship your book.

The second winner is Mary at Quilt Hollow, for the most referals. Good lord, that woman is popular.

Once again thanks for playing and I hope you stop back. If someone would like to order a signed copy they are 14.95 plus shipping. Send me an email and I will give you the info.

Thanks, Dawn