Postcard slide show

Sorry, but the Postcard Challenge slide show will not be on the blog until Tuesday, Sept 2. We still have some postcards coming in this weekend. Be sure to come back to place your vote then. Have a great weekend.
Lynda

Close up of September forever e.friends block

Here is a close-up photo of our September forever e.friends block. For information on this exciting new block of the month, click here http://greatamericanquilt.com/efriendspage.html.

Also, be sure to check the blog tomorrow. We want to have an online viewer's choice award for our summer 2008 Postcard Challenge. There will be a short slide show to watch and then e-mail us the number of your favorite postcard. The winner will be posted on the blog on September 8th.

Lynda and Nancy

Renee Peterson's Patchwork Pillow

Renee Peterson is a good friend as well as a very accomplished quilter. She inspires us often with beautiful handmade greeting cards, painted Christmas ornaments, beautiful quilts and now with this gorgeous pillow. As you can see, Renee has a great sense of color and style. She made 4 of these pillows for decoration on a brown leather couch--yummy, huh! She also brought in some embellished boxes that I am saving to share with you on another day.

Thank you Renee for your inspiration and for sharing your creativity with us!

Lynda and Nancy

forever e.friends block of the month

We are so excited. We are starting a new Block of the Month in September. Forever e.friends, shown above, is a charming collection of patchwork and applique blocks. If you wish, four seasonal wall hangings can be made instead. Each month you will get an email newsletter with a link for downloading a set of pages that includes the directions, the patterns, a full-sized layout guide, two or more bonus projects, and recipes. We are starting with the block in the lower left corner. If you would like more information, please contact Ashley at ashley@greatamericanquilt.com .

Prairie Quilt Guild, Wichita

We spent 2 lovely days in Wichita, Kansas at the Prairie Quilt Guild. We were picked up from the airport last Monday, by Brenda Ramey, the VP of Programs. On Tuesday, we set up our books and quilts and then went with several members, including the Pres. Sonya Saylor, to a great local French/Mediterranean restaurant for lunch. The afternoon meeting of PQG started at 1:00. Sonya led a very quick business meeting to allow us as much time for our presentation as possible. We finished up about 4:00 and then went to dinner at the Lone Star Steak House. The evening meeting started at 7:00 and we finished up about 9:30. Both groups were so welcoming and generous in their compliments! Thank you all!

On Wednesday, we taught Pineapple. It is one of our favorite classes to teach and our students were first class as is witnessed in the slide show. We look forward to seeing their finished quilts in the near future! What a great group of new friends who have the same passion for quilting as we do.

Thanks PQG for your hospitality and a great couple of days!

Lynda and Nancy

Grandtwins 3rd Birthday

I found this great website to make the best cards that include photos. I had the best time making this one for the "grandtwins" 3rd birthday. I hope it makes you "smile". Lynda

Make a Smilebox greeting

Nancy Sampson's DU Quilt

This beautiful quilt was designed and made by a very dear customer of ours, Nancy Sampson. Nancy is a professor at the University of Denver, Daniels College of Business. She made the quilt over the 2006 summer. It depicts the distinctive architecture of the DU buildings with the Rocky Mountains in the background. Included on the quilt is a pin that celebrates DU's 2005 NCAA Hockey Championship and a 2006 Colorado quarter. The quilt currently hangs in the athletic director's suite in the Ritchie Center. Kudos to Nancy!

I love my Quilting Arts 2008 calendar, especially August, because I get to see the winning August block that was made by Nancy. The challenge, "A Novel Idea", was to show in stitch, fabric, and embellishment how a favorite work of fiction inspired them, influenced their life, changed them, made them laugh, or brought them joy.

Nancy chose the book Under the Tuscan Sun. She says "This book is inspirational in showing that life can be full of second chances. It is about living life with passion and splendor, and the story has shown me ways to stretch my own wings, breaking from traditional quilting techniques to experiment with new avenues of embellishment." I think you will agree with me that the block truly is a winner. I'm going to find it hard to flip to September.

Keep stretching those wings Nancy! We'd like to see more.
Lynda

Mary Swinton's Pineapple Quilt

We just received this picture from Mary Swinton. She was in our Lincoln, NE, Pineapple class with Cathie Miller. She finished her quilt in time to enter it into her guilds quilt show in May. Look how the circles stand out. WOW! I hope you are proud of yourself, Mary.

We are teaching Pineapple next week in Wichita. Mary's and Cathie's quilts should provide lots of inspiration.


Mary said "Thanks for all the wonderful help, tips, support and suggestions. I'm so pleased with my quilt. I would never have tackled such a project if it had not been for the class."

Thanks Mary for sharing your quilt with us!

Lynda and Nancy

Amy Butler and Heather Bailey Fabrics

The much anticipated fabric from Amy Butler and Heather Bailey arrived yesterday. We have 16 pieces from Heather's Pop Garden and Bijoux collection and almost the entire Midwest Modern collection from Amy Butler--Westminster fabrics back ordered a few of our choices. : (

Pop Garden is vibrant and dramatic--a smart mix of modern and romantic prints. Bijoux prints are jewels or trinkets that play well with Pop Garden. Click below to see what we have. http://greatamericanquilt.com/store/heatherbaileyfabric.html. Heather is also designing a line of patterns that should be out soon.

Amy's collection is quilting weight fabric and was inspired by Amy's lifestyle book, Midwest Modern. It is an absolutely beautiful line with 3 luscious palettes--Ohio Sky, Pink Dahlia, and Orange Dahlia. We will also have some of her new solids to coordinate.
http://greatamericanquilt.com/store/midwestmodernfabric.html .

We have several of Amy's patterns in stock and will be ordering more. The patterns are posted to our website http://greatamericanquilt.com/store/amybutler.html. We will be making lots of samples and Amy will be sending us a trunk show--check our weekly e-mail for more information. Nancy and I were lucky enough to spend 3 days with Amy at a creative workshop put on by American Patchwork and Quilting two years ago. What an inspiring lady!

Lynda

Rocky Mountain Gold Shop Hop Quilt

The Rocky Mountain Gold Shop Hop is in full swing. The shop hop mystery quilt has been unveiled. I haven't seen any of the other quilts, but I hear that they are all slightly different. Here is a photo of ours. I think it turned out beautifully.

It's been HOT, HOT, HOT, but the shop hoppers are great. I have enjoyed chatting with new friends and long time friends. Thanks for all of your support.

Lynda

Cathie Miller's Pineapple Quilt

We taught our Pineapple class to the Lincoln, NE quilt guild in January. Cathie Miller, who was our hostess, e-mailed this photo of her finished quilt, Strawberries 'n Cream Pineapple. I think it is absolutely stunning! Way to go Cathie!

She interpreted the Barn Dance pattern from our Positively Pineapple Book, using reds and creams and added a row both horizontally and vertically. The method uses our Pineapple Rule rather than templates or paper piecing. What a gorgeous quilt!

OK Lincoln Guild Pineapple students--show us the quilts!

Lynda

New classes to teach

I've spent some time recently trying to come up with some new classes to teach. I've leafed through our books to try to identify my favorite quilts--and boy do I have a lot of favorites! My latest favorite quilt is Calypso, from Simple to Sensational Batiks. This quilt has also been a favorite pick at Quilt Market and at lectures we have done recently. I think it would make a great class--simple patchwork, easy curves, paper piecing, great color palette, and a really fun border. I think I'll be figuring out a lesson plan soon.

I have to share two more pictures of my daughter's trip to Grand Lake, Colorado. There are some really fun road signs across the country. This one is so descriptive, but it depicts the wrong way of crossing. : )

Wow, is that an impressive swim or what?

Lynda

Need Christmas inspiration?

Christmas in July is in full swing at GAQF. We are on day two of our "inspiration stations". The store is decorated for Christmas in every nook and cranny. We have the most gorgeous collection of Christmas fabric--surely something for everyone. Christmas is only 5 months away.




We have designed several patterns of our own, including the Sassy Apron, shown above right and a matching Sassy Grabber--a fun and easy to make oven mitt. http://greatamericanquilt.com/store/sassygrabber.html These make great gifts for Christmas, or anytime.


More inspiration stations are scheduled Tuesday through Fridat at 12 noon and 4:00 and all three inspiration stations are scheduled for Saturday at 11, 12, and 1:00. Hope to see you there!

Check the website for more information. http://www.greatamericanquilt.com/


Merry Christmas in July,

Lynda

To sew, or not to sew--that is the question?

Several posts ago, I told you about my daughter Kim, and that she was going to make the Amy Butler tunic. I don't think that she has ever made a garment or worked with anything other than a 1/4" seam allowance, except maybe on a Halloween costume.

We have had a very busy summer so far, not indusive to sewing at all. Kim's fabric is 'warshed' and ironed, and ready to go. So, see below how much sewing she accomplished last weekend.

Yeah right!

She chose not to sew, but to fish. She caught 2 cutthroat trout one of which we will have for dinner tonight--my 20 year old son is going to grill. I just have to sit back and relax--not!

Kim has today off and she was going to get started on her tunic. I can't wait to get home to see what she accomplised.

Lynda