Flashback Friday

Before I start my post, I just want to thank everyone for the nice comments and emails on my last post.  We really appreciate all the prayers and support.   A couple of you voiced concern about Carter being disappointed that the baby wasn’t a puppy (see the video), but a new puppy is arriving in May.  That gives us just a couple months to have it trained before the baby comes.  Good luck with that, right?

 

Today I wanted to share this little article that showed up in my favorite quilting magazine  – American Patchwork and Quilting.  The article is called Favorite Finds.

Look what they happen to feature?  My book “Angles with Ease” and the companion ruler, the Triangler.  I was super excited to have them feature it in the article, along with a nice picture from the book.

 

This article got me thinking.  Wouldn’t it be fun to have Flashback Friday every so often and revisit a few of my favorite quilts from the past??  And wouldn’t it be even more fun if that item was on sale in my shop?

 

So here goes – A few of my favorite projects from the Angles with Ease book, featured in the APQ article.

Cosmo

 

Calypso (made with the scraps from Cosmo)

 

Spin Cycle

 

Winter Solstice

 

Baby Juiper

 

Honeycomb Bloomers

 

Rising Star Topper

 

Juniper

 

There are many more projects from the book, so for those of you who aren’t familiar with the book, you can see the rest of the projects here and here.

Click to see the sale on the book and ruler in my shop.

 

Thanks for stopping by and have a nice weekend!

 

Hellooooooo . . . . . ????

Anybody still here?

It’s been well over a month since I have done a post.  I’m hoping that I still have a few followers!  I have been so behind that I just haven’t taken time to do a blog post.  Every spare minute that Carter is napping has been spent sewing projects for a new book.  The projects in the book are all small – in fact they are all runners or toppers – as that is all I can seem to get done!  (Well, that isn’t the only reason.  I happen to LOVE everything about runners and toppers.)

So are you wondering why I am so behind?  I am usually really motivated when it comes to quilting and love getting lots of projects done . . . . So what happened?  Let’s just say I’ve had a couple of things that have set me behind schedule in January and February.

First of all, I took way too many naps in January and February.  And I hate naps!  I didn’t even take naps when Carter was a newborn.  I just couldn’t kick feeling soooo tired.  I also wasn’t feeling well.  I felt like I had the stomach flu (or certain parts of it).  No throwing up, but just dizzy and nauseous.    It really affected my creativity at a time when I was supposed to be coming up with new ideas.  I am feeling much better now.  Let’s just say it’s something that about 13 weeks or so couldn’t fix.

Yep.  You guessed it.  Baby # 2 is on the way!  Carter is going to be a big brother.

 

I’m sure many of you are wondering if we had to go through as much as we did to have Carter (read about this here).   We were so fortunate that we didn’t have to do IVF this time around.  After all the doctoring that we did with Carter, plus my age, our OB recommended not waiting long before trying, giving it a few tries, then going straight to IVF.  No pressure huh?

We followed his advice and used some routine fertility treatments.  We had some ups and downs in this process, including some early successes, and some disappointments.  After about 8 months, I called the IVF clinic to reserve a spot.  They said there wasn’t a waiting list and they wouldn’t set up an appointment until I knew for sure that the last round of treatment hadn’t worked.   I felt for sure that I didn’t feel anything and wasn’t pregnant.

Turned out I was wrong!  An ultrasound at 5 weeks revealed a normal pregnancy (just one, and in the right place).  A second one showed things were still good.  The third one showed the same, along with a heartbeat.  At this point we told just a few people.  Blood work and genetic tests at 11 weeks showed that everything was normal.   We were so grateful to learn that everything was good!   Unlike the tests of old that weren’t nearly as accurate, this test is like 99% accurate.  (This test is for high risk patients or people over 35).  The test also tells you the sex of the baby – Yes all from a simple blood test!  No more waiting for the ultrasound at 20 weeks.   My way of telling Joel what we were having was to tell him we were getting a permanent fish house, not a sewing machine.  In other words, Carter is getting a baby brother.  I had been joking with Joel, that I was eventually going to have to take up ice fishing if I wanted to see my boys in the winter.  Now we are going to have to get once for sure!

We are now at 18 weeks and I am finally ready to share with everyone.  I have been so nervous to tell people too soon.  I know we have a long way to go yet, but everything is looking good and we are well through the miscarriage window.   I am starting to fill out my maternity clothes, so I am no longer able to hide it.  I felt movement at about 14 weeks and since then, the little guy has been really active.  I love the reassurance that movement brings.  My due date is August 26th.

Here is a short video that we sent to our nieces and nephews to announce our addition —

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JGnQ2deXgQ

(It isn’t the most creative announcement, but we still thought it was kinda cute.  Especially when Carter’s first guess of the ultrasound picture was a puppy.)

So, now you know what’s been happening around here!  Was anyone suspicious?  I shared the news with my quilting group at our last meeting.  I told them I wasn’t making any big quilts, but have been busy making runners because that is all I can get done.  We joked that after this baby, I will be doing a book on pot holders.  I have been laughing about it ever since.  I sure hope there is a market for pot holders, because I hate to give up time with my precious boys and it’s really hard to break the quilting addiction!

 

I Love Puppies Strike-Offs

A few weeks ago I shared a sneak peek at my new fabric line “I Love Puppies”.

At that point, I only had the cad drawings and have been anxiously awaiting the strike-offs (where the designs are printed on actual fabrics).  The second set of strike-offs have arrived and I have gone through them and made some notes on a few more tweaks.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with this process, the plant does a few practice runs on fabric before they print the real goods.  This way we have a chance to get the colors just right.  I compare the strike-offs to my artwork or the cads and make notes on what I want changed.  I email these changes to my design director at Henry Glass and Co, who then sends them to the plant overseas.   This is where I imagine some interpreter trying to explain my notes – such as “The designer wants the pink to be a little less mauve in tone, and a little more coral.”   I often wonder if those colors mean the same thing to me, as they do to the person running the ink mixing machine???  I need to ask my design director  about this sometime.  It sounds like a challenging process!

My list is usually long and detailed, as I am trying to get things just right, if possible.  Then when the fabric comes, I often have to let a few of the details slide.  I remind myself that I notice things that other people won’t and they won’t have the original to compare it to.  It’s hard not to be critical of your own work, but usually within a few days, I am playing away with the new fabrics, minor differences forgotten.

I am getting off track – so back to the point of this blog post!  Here is the sneak peek at those strike-offs:

The brown and orange prints –

The grey prints, including the panel –

The aquas and the cream background print-

The navy and green prints –

And one last shot of how nicely the grey and aquas play together.

It will be a few more months before I get the actual fabric.  In the meantime, I already have a quilt pattern picked out that I want to make with the fabric.  It’s always such a long wait!

So what are you playing with today?