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Off To Santa Fe!


Hi to everyone.  Question- how can each week be busier and faster than the previous week?  Do you have that same problem?  Last week was soooo busy- It started with painters in the house on Thursday,  a visit to the hospital for an ablation on my husband's heart on Friday (everything turned out great), teaching a class on Saturday, another class on Sunday, a program on Monday in Waxahachie, TX and a program and class in Arlington on Tuesday.  So far this week I had the pleasure of stitching with friends and I am now packing and getting ready for a trip to Santa Fe to attend a workshop next week. Getting to sit and write this blog is welcomed break.  So, here it is,  this week's blog.  
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Hello Everyone! I hope you had a great week and looking forward to a wonderful weekend. The last two weeks have been busy for me, non-sewing busy. There has been a trip to Roundtop, TX and Austin TX, both with family and friends. The small town of Roundtop has a large antique show twice a year. Last year it was called off but was large than ever this year. I alway enjoy attending, but never pick up too many things. This year I found and purchased the Appliqué Pineapple Quilt, above. It is in good condition and dates from the mid 1800s.

I usually get bright, busy scrappy quilts, but this quilt called to me. I was intrigued by the pattern and the muted solid colors. The dealer said that the fabrics were hand dyed and probably the colors that had faded due to the non-stability of the dyes. The red fabric was probably brighter. It is hand quilted and the binding has been reapplied by machine. Maybe I will use this quilt to write a pattern in the future!

Be sure and pick up a copy of the June issue of American Patchwork and Quilting. My featured quilt is Basket Toss, above, which was inspired by an antique quilt. It is made with red reproduction fabrics and light shirtings. The quilt is smaller in size, a lap or large wall quilt.

American Patchwork and Quilting Magazine a wonderful publication that still features traditional quilts. It is always such an honor to have a quilt featured in APQ. Along with my quilt, check out Stars and Strips Forever by Lisa Bongean for Primitive Gatherings and don’t for get to read the article featuring Susan Ache- I want her studio!

Before driving down to Roundtop, I picked up a couple of quilts from machine quilter Sheri Mecom of Leave It To Me Quilting. These two quilts are very different- one old and modern and one new and traditional. Both turned out very nice!

Red Pineapple Quilt, above, was finally finished last year and quilted this year. The finished 12″ blocks were pieced using Pineapple Foundation papers by Little Foot Co. I would make a block as a teaching sample each time I taught the Pineapple class. After making more than half the blocks, I decided to finish the top. A border was added, quilting completed, binding sewn on and now it is done! It is so striking with the pineapple geometric design.

The other quilt is called Nest, above, pattern and fabric by Tula Pink. This top was made as a shop sample to sell the Nest fabric line, one of the first lines of Tula Pink fabric. This quilt is bright and fun and maybe my granddaughter will want this quilt.

If you preordered Time Honored Traditions from my Etsy shop, your book has been mailed and hopefully been received. I have heard from some of you and the reviews have been wonderful! When writing the book, I wanted to describe reproduction fabrics, show you samples of the colors and show you how to use it in a quilt. From your wonderful comments, I think the book was successful – thanks! If you have not received your book, please let me know through the Etsy shop- USPS shipping is slow and if you are overseas, it can take up to a month. If you have not ordered the book, check out my shop, Petite Quilts, and get one for yourself. They are now in stock and shipping. Again, thanks for your orders and kind words!

Now that I am back in front of the sewing machine, I have made more little Birds in the Air blocks using my new fabrics, Petite Perennials from Windham Fabrics. This pattern, called Circles, was reproduced in brown, red and indigo with brown being the document fabric. I hope to offer Fat Quarter Bundles in my Etsy shop very soon!

I have a basket full of the 3″ finished blocks and just two more fabric patterns to use in the blocks. Soon the Fly Away Home quilt top will be put together. If you have my new book and want to sew along, find the directions for Fly Away Home and have fun sewing up your scraps!

Fun was had by all at the Roundtop Antique Show. My daughter and granddaughter came along with me and it was so much fun to travel with family again! We had fantastic weather, ordered special by the Chamber of Commerce. We visited two venues, The Big Red Barn and Marburger Farms, although there are so many more places to stop and shop in the very small town. Above is a picture on my granddaughter Lucy and me-can you tell purple is her favorite color?

Here are the things we picked up at the Fair. I got the Appliqué Pineapple quilt and another big letter “A” for my collection. We also got three sets of old salt and pepper shakers for my daughter-in-law. She accidentally fell into some old family sets so now we pick up more sets when we find them. But, don’t tell her, they are a surprise!

Last week my husband and I went to Austin to visit long time friends and ate our way across the city! One evening we went to one of Austin’s parks along Lake Travis to see the largest planting of bluebonnets I have ever seen. It was breathtaking. Bluebonnets are the Texas state flower and are planted everywhere in the state- in parks, along the highways and in urban landscapes.

The sunset was a beautiful ending to a great day. Thanks to Mike and Melanie for showing us a fantastic time- they never disappoint!

Along with bluebonnets blooming, the Irises in my yard are currently showing off their colors. Above is a lavender Bearded Iris.

Another color in my garden is Peach. These flowers always remind me of my grandmother. She had so many colors blooming in her yard in the spring.

White Irises are also making a beautiful show this year. My neighbor gave me two bucketful of iris rhizomes this year so I hope I will have many more blooms next year.

Ihope you are enjoying Spring where you are. The weather here in North Texas is wonderful. Except for the pollen, I can’t complain. I hope you all have a fun weekend, we will be attending a Little League baseball game and getting lots of weeds pulled. Maybe I will get some sewing done, but unless it rains, I will probably be outside!

Later, Annette


Local Programs
This week I gave two programs to two different groups.  The first one was for the Creative Quilters Guild of Ellis County in Waxahachie, TX.  We discussed the history of blue fabrics from the 1800s, shared the quilts from my book , True Blue Quilts, and passed around antique blocks that represented the different blues from the 19th Century.  On Tuesday I spoke to the Arlington Womens Club Quilt Division.  We talked about how to build and curate a fabric stash, touched on some fabric history and they even brought some of their old quilts for me to see and discuss the dates of the quilts.  Most of their quilts were created in the 1930s or later.  There were several Grandmother's Flower Gardens and even a string quilt.  We had a small class on hand piecing and worked with hexies.  The groups were so friendly and made me feel so welcomed.  Thanks to both groups!

My Hexies
After playing with hexies at the workshop, I had to come home and pull out my hexie project. I am not sure where this is going but I made four more flowers that are ready to be added to the larger pieces.

One of the new flowers was placed on the top row and the others will be added to the bottom row along with the red path hexies.  This project will probably go back in the bag to be continued on the next road trip or when I need a project -to-go.


Santa Fe Workshop
On Sunday, I will leave with two friends, Carol and Deb, to go to Santa Fe to take workshop with Kathy Doughty.  We will be learning Organic Appliqué.  For me, it will be chaotic applique from the looks at the fabrics I have chosen. 



In the class, Kathy will show us some different ways to applique and how to think outside the box.  This will not be easy for me, I like to have things planned with no surprises, so I will need to "let it go".  We'll see how this works. Kathy is a great teacher so I know I will learn lots from her and maybe leave just a little more creative.

Daisy Do
Although the flight to Santa Fe will not be long, I will need some handwork .  I have the hexies and another small project, Daisy Do.  There are 10 blocks of the 77 needed for this quilt, so I picked out 10 more sets of fabrics to cut for hand stitching.

Above is the book, Quilt Lovely by Jen Kingwell, that features Daisy Do on the cover.  There are also acrylic templates available for this pattern and they are so helpful.  These two projects should give me plenty to work on for the trip.  I will leave Sunday and come back late Friday night.  This should be so fun, I love teaching, but I really love learning from other artists- Kathy will be well worth the trip!

Our New Home
I announced in the last blog that my hubby and I are moving later this year to a new home near Denton, TX.  Above is the most current photo of the house in progress.  The new house is not the problem right now, it is getting the current house ready to go on the market in June.  The agent sent a stager over this week and the bottom line is that I need to get everything off the floor, clean off all the top shelves in the closets, remove about 50% of everything displayed in the house (including quilts- eek!) and clean, clean, clean.  Thank goodness for the Santa Fe trip, but I will be working hard when I get back and that won't include sewing. 

Because of the trip, there won't be a blog next week, so watch for the May 10th blog for all the details on the workshop and see if I soared creativity or did a crash and burn.  So, until next time, stay healthy, be safe, and keep on creating!

Later, Annette