The Big Dig

The time has finally arrived!  It's been a long time coming, but Pam & I never rush into these kinds of things!  Yes, it's true, the Buggy Barn is expanding!  We'll have about double the floor space we had before, so we'll still be small since we were tiny before, but it sure will feel spacious to us!  Actually, it'll probably be packed to the rafters just like before, who am I trying to kid?  So, as you can see, the floor has been poured, and the walls will be up soon.  Once the new front room is complete, the old wall that the main door was in will come down and we'll have one big room.  The shop is open as usual during construction and shoppers are entering using the side door by the bathroom in what used to be the pattern room.  Stop by and check our progress!

We are anxious for our Australian teachers to arrive for classes Mother's Day weekend!  It will be great fun!  This photo is of Gail Pan from Gail Pan Designs standing in front of her Berries & Bluebirds block of the Month.  She will be doing a retreat with Helen Stubbings, another of our favorite block of the month designers.  I'm so sorry I don't have a photo to share, but there is still room in the retreat, so come, enjoy, learn, and make memories of your own!

Meanwhile, I am frantically, madly, designing and piecing for a new book for Spring Quilt Market just three short weeks away.  Just writing that makes my stomach drop.  So best I go and do as the sign instructs!  Easier said than done!  Pam was so clever and gave me this sign for my birthday last year.  It's the gift that keeps on giving!

Snowbound

Oh my, we are "Snowbound" once again! There's snow covering the ground once again but wait, now it's gone!  It's our typical "spring is just around the corner" weather!  I headed over to Pam's last Friday about dinner time with my latest design to show her, wearing my slippers with no socks, no phone, and driving my little Honda Civic, and yes it had been snowing all day, but it was wet and not sticking, and yes the wind had been blowing all day but this was just spring snow, not the stuff you really worry about....Or so I thought until  I just about buried my car not once but twice in snow drifts and I really do know how to drive in winter conditions-  I love bucking drifts!  I arrive at Pam's but NO one believed me, not Pam, not my husband who I called when I started home so he knew to come look for me if I didn't make it home! That is, no one believed until Pam almost got stuck in her Yukon the next morning, or Tom the next afternoon!  Hah!  Doubters!  I really will tell you when it's time to panic!

I finished my first Snowbound block, pictured above, on a quick weekend trip to see our oldest son in southern California.  It's really block one and part of block 2, which is the triangle corners on the blocks (of which I only have 1 on!) and the snow for the circle flakes and the larger flakes seen on the whole quilt.  The snowmen are so very cute and even better is that they aren't out in my front yard!

The sun in California was delightfully sunny and hot, hot, hot!  I managed to catch a terrible case of spring fever!  We didn't have much time together,  but spent a great day at the beach then left Zack back on campus after church to study and we headed back home. The boys have been having a beard contest of some sort as you can see from the picture.  Zack's  got severely trimmed (thank goodness) since he had his first week of clinicals and is finally excited about physical therapy again-it's not just long hours in the library after all!  We arrived home and it's back to fabric design for me and foot surgery for Tom.....he now looks like he's taken up the boy's beard growing contest!  He's still not too mobile but is getting better.  I think he's just enjoying having me cook three meals a day for him!  Have a great day and hope spring is heading your way!

It's finally Done!

Starlit Garden, Buggy Barn's newest block of the month design, is finally complete: stitched, quilted, photographed, and at the printer, so our job is done for now, at least until book delivery day which we are hoping will be this Friday.  For an autographed copy, pre-order you book here USE THE DOWN ARROW to select book only if you do not want the fabric kits also.  

With much thanks  for more than a little help from our friends Valerie Brown and Gloria Brodhagen for helping Pam and me stitch and our quilter extraordinaire, Karen Brown, who all pitched in so that we can finally share this with all of you!

Need Your Very Own Prince Charming?

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, are you in need of your very own Prince Charming? One you can snuggle up with on the couch?  This one's perfect don't you think?  I made this quilt for Pam's granddaughter,

and it all started with this poster that I had in junior high.  When mom was gone and I finally had to clean out my bedroom, this poster was still hanging in my closet and I decided to pass it on to Maisie with the advice that she has to kiss a lot of toads before she finds her handsome prince!   Then I even found some earrings for her birthday, one stud is pink rhinestone lips and the other is a frog!  Of course, I had to buy two pairs of earrings, one set of lips and one set of frogs but now we each have our own set of earrings, not that I've ever worn mine!   So now as we head back to our sewing machines, we can stop by and give our "real" prince charming a smooch for putting up with our neglect as we cut, and shuffle, and piece our way toward another new quilt!

New and Notable!

Our machine quilter, Karen, shared this quilt with us.  This is the "other" stack of fabric for "O Christmas Tree", what I refer to as the flocked trees, the ones I was too tired to face piecing?  Now I wish I just would have bucked up!  Isn't this cute?  And remember, you get BOTH quilts from the kits!  What a deal!

Then Sandi finished this wonderful "Orchard House" quilt made with civil war/reproduction fabrics.  I love the soft warm colors of this one!  Now she's home recovering from shoulder surgery and we wish her a speedy recovery so she can get back to her piecing, although she probably hasn't let it slow her down too much!

It didn't take MaryEllen much more than a day to whip up this "A Day in Giverny" quilt, made with French General's newest fabric line.  If you love French General, you'll love this quilt!  Aren't we lucky to have such talented and generous people to help us?  They are the best!

Wingin It

Gloria and Kathy W have been trading labor, piecing for quilting, and Kathy just finished quilting Gloria's Wingin' It project, made with our "Wingin' It" fabric line.  This quilt will surely help tide us over until spring thaw and the gardens come back to life! Just thought I'd share for today! Keep those sewing machine wheels rolling!  

I'm Not the Superwoman I Once Was

I'm not the Superwoman I once was, but maybe that was only in my mind anyway! I'm either underestimating how long it will take or overestimating just how much I can get done, but one way or the other reality has a way of trumping my best intentions.  But, finally, truly, we are closing in our new "Starlit Garden" block of the month project.  This is just a little preview....we all have more than a of bit a stitching to do: thank heavens Val, and Gloria, and Pam have all pitched in to help!  Parts of the book are at the printer and have been printed, just waiting on us to get our stitching and photography done!  We made this quilt with our newest fabric line, "Seeing Stars" which just arrived in the shop along with our "Basic Blacks" so the girls will be busy cutting the block of the month kits so they will be ready to go out as soon as the book is off the press!  You can pre-order the block of the month or the whole kit here.  So that has been my life thus far this year!  Am looking forward to raising my head, getting my nose off the grind stone, and taking a look around at life once again!  Happy 2013 everyone!