Judy's birthday flowers and a favorite little Autumn quilt!

Well, we have finally had a little bit of Autumn here in the Denver area. It was cool and rainy for a few days last week. The trees are still turning and have plenty of leaves still on them. We might have our first snowfall on Tuesday--so my agenda tomorrow is to get the patio furniture put away, the planters cleaned out, and locate my snowbrush to put back in the car.

Judy's birthday is October 17th and her son in Atlanta always sends a bouquet to her at the store, so we get to enjoy it also. It comes from my favorite florist-Happy Canyon Flowers. Every year we think that they can't beat last years, but they always do. Maybe it's because I love fall colors and fall flowers (achoo, achoo). Here are two pictures of this years bouquet. I think you will agree that it is absolutely goooorgeous!

I took this picture from overhead so that you could see the variety of flowers. I think my fav might be that green spider mum. Hmmm-I think I might make this my new desktop pic.
And now, onto a little quilting. This is one of my favorite little Autumn quilts. It isn't very big but it certainly depicts the season. We used it for inspiration to make our current Saturday Sampler wallhanging. The pattern for this quilt is in our book Home for the Harvest.

I hope you all have a beautiful Autumn weekend. I'm off to finish making Judy's present--a CD of all of her favorite Glee songs. Thank you Judy for sharing your beautiful flowers with all of us!

Happy Stitching,

Lynda

Halloween and Home For the Harvest

One of my favorite books that we have published is Home For the Harvest! It is filled with wonderful Autumn and Halloween projects. This is one of my favorites with Dracula, a blue-faced Witch, Frankenstein, and a Princess. We show this in the book as a long, narrow wallhanging and also as separate placemats. What fun!

I sent my son an advertisement for an iPhone app from Pottery Barn Kids. You take a photo of your child (in his case, 5 year old twins) and then try on different Halloween costumes and send them out for friends and relatives to see. Hello Patrick and Lori--we are waiting for the pics!

The weather is absolutely gorgeous here. If you have been reading our blog for awhile, you might remember my post of I Love Orange. We have a bush in our backyard that starts out kind of red in the Spring and then turns to green for the Summer and then totally shines in orange for Fall. I am going to try to take pics of it everyday for the next couple of weeks to show you just how beautiful it becomes.

Today has been my day at the computer. I started out with my Quilt University homework for EQ6, worked on my EQ7 Bee homework, did a little blog hopping, tweeted a bit, and am now blogging. Be sure to check out our website for a Halloween Scavenger Hunt--some really great prizes will be awarded.

Busy, busy weekend, but I hope to actually sew some tomorrow. Until next time,
Happy stitching!

Lynda

Another Patchwork Lottery Winner

Ginny Grimes, from Morrison, CO, won the Patchwork Lottery blocks in January this year. The block was a split 9-patch and one side was to be light and medium light blues and the other side, darks and medium dark blues. Ginny put it together in a Barn Raising setting.

The quilt is beautiful and Ginny got to pick the Possibilities book of her choice for bringing it in and sharing it with us and she chose Home for the Harvest.

Thanks Ginny!

Lynda and Nancy

Patchwork Lottery

Here at the store we do a Patchwork Lottery every month. We post a pattern on our website (or you can pick up a free pattern in the store). Anyone who wants to participate makes at least one block and returns it to us. For each block you make you get an entry to win all of the blocks. On the last day of the month a winner is chosen.

Bess Lantz from Beatrice, NB won 29 blocks in the May Patchwork Lottery. She made one extra block and set the quilt together with yellow sashing and a dark blue border. The block is named Prairie Queen. We think the quilt is lovely and we thank her for sharing the picture with us. And, by the way, if you do make a quilt and send us the picture you get your choice of an autographed Possibilities book--nice prize!


If you are interested in participating in our Patchwork Lottery click here to go to the link on our homepage. September's block is a pretty red apple with blue sashing and we have already received several blocks.

Thank you Bess for sharing your quilt!
Happy stitching,
Lynda and Nancym

Projects our customers shared!

It is always fun when our customers share their projects with us. This week I will share two of their projects with you. Debbie Due, from Centennial, CO, was in the store last Saturday during the Rocky Mountain Quilt Fever Shop Hop and was lucky enough to win a door prize--a charm pack from Moda fabrics. Well, Tuesday she brought in this wonderful little quilt top. We thought it was so cute and loved the pattern. I love the tiny sashing. The pattern is from an Art to Heart book and we are researching which book it is from. It is a great pattern for a quick present or for a charity quilt. Thanks Debbie for sharing your quilt with us.

The other quilt we have to share was made by Carolyn Green's 8-year old grandaughter Emily. Emily made this charming Halloween quilt all by herself and won 2nd place at the Firehouse Quilt Show in July. She even free motioned some original Halloween motifs in the border. Very nice, and congratulations Emily! Thank you, too, for sharing.

Thank you both for sharing your creative endeavors!

Lynda and Nancy

Good listens or reads!

It's been awhile since I listed the books that I've been listening to on my way to and from work. It seems like I got into a more serious reading mood as you will see.

House Rules is by Jodi Picoult. I enjoy Jodi' books and they always seem to have a surprise ending and this one is no exception. House Rules is about a boy named Jacob, his mother, and brother. Jacob has a high functioning form of autism called Asperger's syndrome. I did not know anything about Asperger's--how it affects the person who has it as well as the family, and found it to be very interesting. Jacob is a forensic science wizard which gets him in trouble with the law. He has trouble communicating with the lawyers and the judge showing how our legal system does not always work well for people who can't communicate 'normally'. It is narrated by several people and is about 20 hours.

My next listen was My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor. Jill is a neuroscientist who had a stroke at age 37. She articulates the actual shutdown of her brain. The book is divided into sections. The first part gives a greater understanding of how the brain functions. In the second part, Jill articulates having the stroke, defining to herself that it really is a stroke, and then describing the actual shutting down of her brain. In the third part, Jill describes the methods and therapies that she used to get her brain functioning normally again, a process of about 8 years. For the most part, I enjoyed it. It got a little tedious at some points, but I highly recommend it to someone who has had a stroke and/or to their caregivers. It has some very valuable information about how to work with a stroke victim to help them regain their skills. The book is narrated by the author.

And then I got an iPad and actually read a book. : ) Still Alice was recommended to my by my friend Judy. It is a fictional story about a 50 year old Linguistics Professor at Harvard who develops early onset Alzheimer's. I found it to be very insightful and helped me understand a little more about such a horrible disease, and how it affects the victim as well as the family. I thought at first that it might be very depressing, and it was a little, but it was also a tender love story.
OK! Now for a recommendation on a happy and fun book. Finger Lickin Fifteen is another novel in the Stephanie Plum series. I find these books to be delightful getaways. I haven't listened to them all, so I'm not tired of the series nor the characters as some other reviewers have said. The first time my daughter listened to one of them with me she just rolled her eyes and complained. A couple of months later I found her reading the next one and she has already read Sizzling Sixteen and I didn't even know it was out. If you start reading this series, be ready to fall in love with Joe Morelli or Ranger or better yet, both.

Last, but not least, I re-listened to The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo on a trip to Aspen a few weeks ago. My husband was interested in it and I wanted to hear it again before I watched the movie--especially since it is in Swedish with sub-titles. Loved it all over again!

Well, that's all for now. If you've read anything that you would like to recommend, please comment. Until next time,

Happy listening and/or reading,

Lynda

PS My next listen might be Eat, Pray, Love again before I go to see the movie>

It's finally here, Rocky Mountain Shop Hop 2010!!!!!!!!!!

We have 7 shops in our Rocky Mountain Quilt Fever Shop Hop. The Hop lasts for 3 days-- Friday, August 6th through Sunday, August 8th, 2010.

This year each shop chose a patchwork block and made two of them. We also chose two reproduction fabrics in the same colorway--one medium and one dark. In our case we colored our block in two different ways. One of our blocks is in the upper right hand corner. See if you can find it's match. We were then free to design an exclusive setting for our quilt. As you can see from the picture, we have more than 14 blocks. We chose one of the blocks and made 3 more for the setting blocks in the corners. All of the light fabric in the blocks and border of our quilt is the light combination of the exclusive toile fabric. It made for a very nice background for the patchwork as well as the applique.


Hoppers go to each store, buy a kit to make two blocks (or get the pattern for free) and choose their favorite quilt setting. I've seen most of the settings and they are all unique, but guess which one I feel is the prettiest?

We will have some great demos going on and lots of new product. Nancy is especially excited about a new ruler called Leaves Galore. She has put together a wonderful storyboard showing some of the great things this ruler can do. Several of us want the set of 3, but we will wait until Shop Hop is over to see if there are any left.

We hope to see many of you during the next few days and if you can't come, check back here and we will let you know how it turned out.

Happy Hopping,

Lynda

P.S. Check the blog below for close-up pictures of the exclusive Toile fabric from RJR and our website for close-ups of the blocks. http://www.greatamericanquilt.com/

Rocky Mountain Quilt Fever, Shop Hop 2010, part 1

Yay! Shop Hop 2010 is finally here!!!! All of the shops work all year (and I'm not kidding-our first meeting for 2011 is the Wednesday after the shop hop) to make a unique and wonderful experience for our faithful and wonderful customers for next year.

Last year and this year, the Rocky Mountain Shop Hop shops, designed a special fabric exclusive to the shops in the hop. This year it's an incredible toile that we helped design with RJR Fabrics. It features Colorado landmarks and symbols. We think it is absolutely fabulous and anyone with a tie to Colorado should have at least a yard to keep for prosperity. Many of you are buying 6 yards for a very special backing, as I will be, plus a yard for fussy cutting. (See some of the images on the blogpost below) We have already placed a reorder because of the feedback we have received from posting the fabric online and in the shop, but, it will most likely not be reordered again. So, call us and place your order early--we will take phone orders and online orders starting Friday, August 6th at 9:00am. First come, first served. Ask to speak to Ashley or Lynda to place your order.

Happy hopping!!!!
Lynda and Nancy

Rocky Mountain Quilt Fever Shop Hop 2010

It's almost time for the Rocky Mountain Quilt Fever, Colorado Memories Shop Hop. It's August 6, 7, and 8th. Yikes, it's almost August--where has the summer gone?

Last year for the Shop Hop we designed a beautiful batik. This year, we designed a beautiful toile fabric with RJR. The toile showcases many Colorado landmarks and symbols, including Grand Mesa, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, the "Sleeper House", the State Capital, the and many others. If you have ever lived in Colorado, visited Colorado, or want to make a quilt for someone that has lived in Colorado, then you need at least a yard of this exclusive fabric. Six yards would make a beautiful backing for any quilt that has a Colorado connection. Here are a few of the images on the fabric.

All of the shops have designed an exclusive quilt that showcases the main fabric or the secondary fabric (the same design, but not as much of a contrast). We expect that this exclusive fabric will sell fast, so order ASAP!!

Happy Hopping!

Lynda and Nancy

Christmas in July

Merry Christmas everyone! Christmas in July at Great American Quilt Factory, starts this Sunday, July 18th and goes through Saturday, July 24th. Customers in the store and online will enjoy 20% savings off of anything Christmas. What a great time to start your Christmas sewing.

Just in time for Christmas in July is our newest pattern No Peeking. This delightful wallhanging/banner is approx. 14 x 40".

No Peeking's bright colors and simple patchwork and applique make this a perfect gift.

We have a ton of Christmas fabric and Nancy and the design team have stitched up lots and lots of stitching friendly panel quilts. See some of them on the website http://www.greatamericanquilt.com/.

Also on display in the store are several of the models from our newest C&T book Christmas with Possibilities.
Christmas with Possibilities is truly a lovely book filled with 16 holiday projects--some old fav's from out of print books and some wonderful new projects! If you can make it into the store, I'm sure you will enjoy seeing the actual quilts and projects.

Last, but not least, become a fan of Great American Quilt Factory on Facebook for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate. We have already given away 2 and are giving away at least one more when we reach our 1000th fan. Go to Great American Quilt Factory and click on "Like" at the top of the page next to our name. Good Luck!

Happy stitching,

Lynda

Happy Fourth of July

Happy Fourth of July friends,

It is a beauty of a holiday weekend here in Denver--a little barbequing, a little partying, and lots of friends. The quilt above is 1776 from our Seasonal Delights book. I thought it was very appropiate for this weekend.

We have a very special tradition in our neighborhood. For a reasonable price a couple of boy scouts put up a large flag on everyone's lawn for all patriotic days. The street looks lovely with all the flags flying. They put them up at dawn and take them down just before dusk. I can't wait to see them tomorrow.

Have a wonderful weekend and maybe get in a little stitching.

Lynda

More books for you to enjoy...............

Well, I've finished listening to a couple more books that I think you might enjoy. The first is The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford, which was recommended to me by a blog reader. I have never been much into history, but the last several books I have read are piqueing my interest. This book takes place in Seattle in 1986 with flashbacks back to the 1940's. It is about a Chinese-American boy named Henry and his friendship with a Japanese-American girl named Keiko. Keiko's family is interned into a camp during WWII. It is a somewhat bittersweet story but I really enjoyed it. Today I finished listening to Breaking Dawn--the final book in the Twilight Saga. I enjoyed the series, but found that I was more than ready for it to be over. I am looking forward to seeing the new movie Eclipse based on the third book.

My next audio book listen is also from a series. I'll start listening to it on my trip to the store and back for inventory, tonight. Fun, fun! It is the third book in a trilogy--The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, by Stieg Larsson. He is a Swedish author and I enjoyed knowing a little about Sweden, having been there on two vacations. His books are full of intrigue and his first book, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo will be out as a movie, soon.

I am also actually reading Shift by Peter Arnell. I saw him interviewed on the Today show a few days ago and found him fascinating. The subtitle for his book is "How to reinvent your business, your career, and your personal brand". He has worked with many of the top companies in the world with his branding and design expertise and he himself lost over 256 pounds. It's a very fascinating story!

Please send me your favorite books and I will check them out and possibly put them on my "wish list".

Happy listening or reading,

Lynda

Have you ever....?

Have you ever been cleaning out your stash and come across something that has you saying to yourself "What was I thinking?" This is what made me say it--a pattern for troll doll clothes--what WAS I thinking? And yet, it's so funny that I can't bear to part with it. Leave a comment to let me know about one of your "What was I thinking?" moments. : )


Still sorting and cleaning,
Lynda

Kathie Savickas' Christmas Quilt

We were treated on Monday to a special visit by Kathie Savickas, who lives in California. Her daughter lives in the Denver area, so she visits the store whenever she's in Denver. Awhile back, she decided she wanted to make a Christmas quilt. One of our ladies led her to our Seasonal Delights book that has a Christmas Sampler with a Santa Claus. The book also contains two other samplers--one with Uncle Sam, and one with a witch. Kathie creatively decided that the witch could turn into Mrs. Santa and enlarged the quilt to include her, also.

Here is her finished quilt. She repeated some blocks and created new ones, too. We think you will agree that Mrs. Santa is very charming. To see the original witch before she was transformed and other projects in Seasonal Delights, click here.

What inspiration you gave us, Kathie! Thank you for sharing your quilt and it's bittersweet story with all of us and some other lucky customers who happened to be in the store at the same time.

Keep inspiring others with your wonderful projects!

Happy stitching,
Lynda and Nancy

Dino Buddies--and more new stuff to come!

This is one of the three new patterns we debuted at Quilt Market last month in Minneapolis. Writing the directions is my homework for today and tomorrow. These friendly dinosaurs (Tyrone and Bruno) are appliqued to a pieced background and are just perfect for a child's bedroom or playroom. The banners are 12 x 29" and the patterns will be ready to ship soon--if I get my act together and start working on them.


I'll have a couple more things to show you in the coming days, including the beautiful Pineapple Garden quilt that we made for the July/August 2010, McCall's Quilting magazine. For a preview, click here. This pattern uses our Pineapple Rule and we will have kits ready soon.

We also have a beautiful fabric line coming this month from Quilting Treasures. The line is called Autumn Harvest. Click here for a preview of the rest of the line, click here.


See you soon with more new patterns.
Until then,
Happy Stitching,
Lynda