Tuesday, December 16, 2008

One last pic of IQA raffle quilt


I got to Red Lodge in sub-zero weather to take one more picture of the IQA raffle quilt before sending it off to Sue Nichols for quilting. I can't wait to see what it looks like quilted.

Monday, December 8, 2008

IQA raffle quilt top is finished


I did not have all of the parts to the raffle quilt when I was in Red Lodge this weekend. I have now finished but do not have the design wall to show you the completed quilt. You will have to add the missing border in your imagination. I am ready to send the quilt to Sue Nichols for quilting. I am sure that the quilting will be spectacular and make up for any small piecing errors I have made. Thank you Sue for taking on this project.

John

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

IQA raffle to octagon


I have finally gotten the raffle quilt sewn out beyond the circular parts. This will make cutting the pieces for the rest of the top easier but I am stalled at what to do in the corners. I am searching for inspiration as I write this and will be putting the outside border on in the next few days hoping to get some flash of genius while I am working.
john

Sunday, November 30, 2008

IQA raffle quilt two more rounds















I finished the last two round of the raffle quilt over the Thanksgiving holiday. I had time to eat but did not have time to take advantage of the black Friday bargains. I have a few details to fill in and need to fill the blank spaces with background but it is nearly ready to go to Sue Nichols for quilting. I have attached a couple pictures of the view out my window. It was a snowy weekend at Red Lodge.
john

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

IQA raffle quilt round three and four







I have completed rounds three and four. the space will be filled with the background fabric it is just easier to size it when the other pieces are sewn together so I will not cut it yet in case i need to change on of the rings. Today I will be cutting the triangles to go around the octagon and the perimeter of the quilt so I will have a piecing project for the long weekend in Red Lodge.

Monday, November 24, 2008

IQA RAFFLE QUILT ROUND 2



This is the first round of feathers around the star. I laser cut the pieces shown above and sewed the ring. I have not attached to the star in case there are changes to be made. What I did not tell you yesterday is that this is going to be the 2009 IQA raffle quilt. I am piecing the top and passing it off to Sue Nichols to be machine quilted. You will be able to buy raffle ticket at any IQA show-Chicago, Long Beach or Houston.
john

Sunday, November 23, 2008

new 5 pointed star feathered sun quilt



This is the start of my new Feathered Sun quilt. It will be similar to my old 5 pointed star quilt with a few subtle changes. The number of feathers has been changed to correspond with the five pointed star and the colors are much calmer.

john

Friday, November 21, 2008

A Medical Week




Here are the two projects John finished up last weekend. The pinwheel will be a pre-cut kit one of these days. The Glorified Nine Patch is a UFO; you know what that is, I'll bet.


I was brave and went for a general checkup this week and then the blood tests, and feel very pleased with myself. Unluckily, John broke a tooth last night and is all repaired temporarily, at least. Luckily, we aren't somewhere in the middle of the US where we don't know any dentists, that was a good thing. So that's enough medical encounters for us for a while.


John is starting a new quilt, a version of his Five Pointed Star that has a very Native American flavor. But really what we have to do this weekend is clean, since Thanksgiving will be at our house this year, hurray! I'm ready to start doing samples of the embroidery for my bed skirt, so if we get enough cleaning done, we'll both have projects.


Take care


Brooke

Friday, November 14, 2008

Errors and Omissions


I just spent a couple of hours writing and proofing our newsletter and bugging both John and Kate to help me with the pattern for the clutch ball. And then I converted it to a pdf file, fluffed it up a little, put both the image and a thumbnail on the website and wrote in that strange and foreign language called HTML. And completely forgot to refer to the clutch ball pattern in the newsletter so now no one even knows it is there.

Except if you read the blog, you know it is there and can look for the pattern if you are interested. Simple pattern and instructions are in "Free Lessons". Free Lesson
Scroll way down, it's the last one.

Doggone it, it's hard getting old. Well, I was forgetting things when I was twenty, so it's no real change, I guess. Sometime I will tell the story of finding a turquoise bolo tie we borrowed in a little paper bag in the back of the refrigerator. Not today, though.

Brooke

Cat Naps


So many quilters have cats. I think the cats around here have us; or tolerate us anyway. John has wanted to make a "cat tower" for over a year. In fact, this giant piece of 1/2" wall PVC pipe has been laying outside in the parking area for a long, long time. It is 8' tall and 18" in diameter and made a really good parking stop - you can see it still has mud on it from its time outside.


Kate and John really enjoyed making the tower which has little fitted platforms with openings so the cats can go from level to level and an exit on the back to the new food shelf. Anna, the Siamese, does not even pretend to like the cat tower. Patch, who is a little daffy anyway, allows Kate to put him in the tower and then he swarms up and out. His favorite thing in the shop is a cardboard box anyway, so it is tough to compete.


Another of Kate's miniature Storm at Sea quilts was just auctioned off on ebay for the Alliance for the American Quilt fundraiser. John has a little quilted sampler on auction right now. Here is the address ebay


I have started Christmas shopping - our son gave me a list, some of it is things for the computer I have never even heard of. I have things picked out for Kate and her husband, but just on a "wish list" in case I hear any "hints" in the next week or so. John said he wants socks. He always says that. Our "Holiday Special" is ready on the website, if you don't already have a Multi-Frame and Stand.

Holiday Special

We are heading to Red Lodge this afternoon. The big news in Carbon County right now is the lady who keeps chimpanzees and their escape and all the trouble she is in. One was found running amok down the highway and the other bit a neighbor, so Bad News for the chimps, I'm afraid. Have a great weekend!


Brooke

Monday, November 10, 2008

Weekend Projects


When we leave for Red Lodge every Friday, (assuming we aren't headed for a quilt show) we pack the car or van with projects to keep us busy over the weekend. John tested Kate's newest pre-cut kit, working name "Hexagonal Pinwheel". It is going to be cute and bright. Then he found a partially pieced Glorified Nine Patch in calico and solids and got a lot of those blocks pieced. Both John and Kate are getting fascinated with miniatures. I expect to see more of them being offered soon.




My projects were to bake a chicken in the new stove and find the turkey roaster in anticipation of Thanksgiving. We also located the "good china" which is hand me down but very pretty and special to our family. Need to hand wash it before the big turkey day. I also am shortening a bed skirt and I wanted to make sure it was pre-shrunk so I didn't have grief later on. I want to use the fancy stitches on our Bernina 200 in colors to go with the quilt on the bed, of course. Choosing thread is always fun!, love it!




Then there was The Cabinet. It is about 60'' high and 60" wide and is one of those "assembly required" deals. Never, ever again. It is really handsome now that it is assembled and in place. But an engineer and particleboard furniture and instructions written in China are not a good combination. Don't do it. John did not yell at me but he said some bad things to the cabinet.




Here are a couple more observations about International Quilt Festival. The DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) loaned some exceptional, rare and very old quilts to the show. There were wonderful examples of the way quilts were made in the 1800s when fabric was hard to get and expensive. Lots of wonderful hand quilting and a really great chance to see old fabrics, some of it block printed by hand.




We sponsored the Alzheimer's booth, Ami Simm's project to raise funds for Alzheimer's research. Several of the quilters who bought John's little quilts came by to have them signed. One girl, about 10 years old, bought a little quilt and John really did enjoy signing her quilt and visiting with her. How generous of her to spend some of her "show cash" for something fairly abstract for a youngster. I haven't hear how much the booth raised but every little bit helps. http://www.alzquilts.org/




This week is another week of catching up and cutting kits for Benartex. I can't wait to get started on my machine embroidery. Oh, I want to hand embroider on it too; got to have a hand project.




Brooke

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Too Much to Report

We are back from Houston. John taught 3 days and they were successful classes. Brooke and Kate staffed the booth which is always fun, but long days. The pre-cut kits were really popular and it was fun to watch quilters try to decide "which one?".

We have some rituals at Quilt Festival, mostly involving FOOD. We had a lovely dinner out with our friend and quilt teacher/author, Nancy Johnson-Srebro. On Tuesday night, we went to the IQA award ceremony, where all the winners are identified and the top quilts in each category are revealed. You can get right up to the quilts and admire and the quiltmakers are often there for you to congratulate. Our company sponsors the Merit Hand Quilting Award and this year, one of our favorite hand quilters, Hazel Canny, won First Prize in our category.

Then there was a wonderful and kind of noisy dinner at an authentic Mexican restaurant with our vendor friends. Saturday was the Silver Star Salute banquet for Silver Star recipient, Alex Anderson. All the top prize winners speak at the banquet and the quilter from Japan who won one of the top awards wore her traditional kimono and gave her entire speech in English which impressed all of us! It was great to see Alex's early quilts and learn about how she got in to quilting. John got to visit a minute with her Dad who has been on salmon fishing trips with them. On Sunday, after breakdown, we always go to a local Vietnamese restaurant which is near the Convention Center, tasty and too much to eat.

The little Silent Auction quilts went over well - and got lots of comments. Brooke's went for $75, Kate's for $225 and John's for $575, we think. Anyway, all for a good cause, the International Quilt Association. Some lucky quilter won Phil Beaver's beautiful raffle quilt but it wasn't me.

We had quilters from Spain, Australia, Canada, France, Great Britain, Japan and, we think, Belgium. This year was our 19th show at International Quilt Festival. You know what that means, next year is our 20th Anniversary!

My camera quit working right before the Show so I don't have nice quilt photos to share.

Kate flew home on Monday and was petting her dogs by 1:00 pm. John drove really hard and we got to Billings about 7:00 pm on Tuesday. We listened to CNN Election coverage all the way and were ready to take a break from news until the polls actually closed and results could be reported.

Next weekend, time off in Red Lodge. There may be snow; I know for sure it will be peaceful.

Brooke

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Update




We are just a couple of hours from leaving for the long drive to Houston. Kate is coming out soon to help pack the van - hope it all fits! John is teaching three classes so we have his teaching kits along with our booth supplies. We look forward to Houston, the quilt show is breathtaking but it is a lot of work and a long, long drive. Big tankers of Diet Coke for John and naps for Brooke.

An early October snow storm surprised all of us two weekends ago. Billings had 15 inches of snow and John dug out the whole driveway so we could leave for Santa Clara. We lost power for a while but our pump burned up and we had no plumbing until Monday when John could get the part. We almost went to a motel but we decided it was a lot like camping and toughed it out. After all, we could still make popcorn and watch TV!

The scenery is from the beautiful Gallatin Canyon which is between Bozeman Montana and West Yellowstone. The Gallatin River is loved by rafters and kayakers and fly fishers. There wasn't nearly as much snow there as down in Billings. Their turn will come.

So I hope to have pictures from Houston for the next blog. Unfortunately, sometimes I forget about the camera though.

Brooke

Monday, October 6, 2008

Wildlife


A few years ago, I worked for a fellow who said "You have to remember where you live". He meant that if you live in Chicago or New York City or London, you should take advantage of the museums and theatre and opera and if you live in Montana, you should enjoy the outdoors.

We don't see bald eagles too often, although much more frequently than 20 years ago. I wish I had taken this with John's new camera, it has a much better ZOOM.

I woke up last night to the sound of a bear tearing our barbecue apart. The barbecue is a modified 55 gallon barrel, so not a flimsy deal at all. We have used it and left it outside for 30 years, and this is the first time a bear has come for a taste.

We turned on the outside lights, thinking that would scare him away. When John and I looked out the bedroom window, we could see that the light was just helping him find all the ancient crispy bits. So, we just went back to bed and eventually fell back to sleep; John tells me that the bear came back about quarter to 6 although I didn't hear him. He was a black bear, getting ready for winter and was pretty darn big. And with a shiny coat, somewhat ashy.

Brooke

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Road Trip


Well, one show down and two more to go for 2008. We are going to have to really be organized the next few weeks. Important things to remember are absentee ballots and flu shots!

We always enjoy the Quilt Affair Show in Longmont, Colorado. It is small, but nicely run and nicely attended. The volunteers bring ice water around for the vendors 2 or 3 times during the day to stave off altitude sickness, I guess. It is welcome anyway. The new Janome worked really well for demonstrating the Multi-Frame.

The drive through Wyoming is long but pretty and there are always hillsides full of antelope. We followed, passed and then followed again a convoy of brand new fire trucks and haz mat trucks on the way back. We think they were headed for Lewistown, but they made a stop in Billings to have a bite at McDonalds.

Brooke

Monday, September 22, 2008

IQA Silent Auction


Well, Kate was done on time and John was done on time, but Brooke really scrambled to get her auction quilt done in time to ship today.

John's quilt is on the left, a 12" x 14 1/2" Storm at Sea. Brooke's quilt is in the middle, 10" x 20" Dresden Plate variation. Kate's quilt is on the right, a 14 1/2" square original variation of her Fifty-Four Forty or Fly series.

We are done and now it is time to pack for Quilt Affair in Longmont, Colorado. Oh, and we are having John's birthday party tonight, pizza!

Brooke

Monday, September 15, 2008

Chokecherries

It is time to pick the chokecherries in Red Lodge. John and his sisters already picked the cherries in Billings at least 3 weeks ago but Red Lodge is at a lot higher elevation so the cherries were finally ripe last week. A bear had also been snacking on the chokecherries and left some evidence.

We had a big dinner on Sunday and it was a beautiful day.

Our next show is in Longmont Colorado. It is always a pretty drive down there and it will be nice to be "back to work". We have been cutting and boxing Double Wedding Ring kits for Benartex like mad the last few weeks and still have more to go.

Brooke

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Goodbye Old Stove


The stove is over 30 years old. We think the trouble started when we had it converted from propane to natural gas. The pilot light no longer works so we have to light it with kitchen matches - I realized a few mornings ago that the smell of sulphur matches reminds me of camping, pleasant memories, but not enough to redeem this stove.

The oven is an entity all its own. We haven't been able to bake in it for years; partially because a friend helping clean one afternoon scrubbed all the numbers off the oven's temperature dial with an SOS pad. But that isn't really what is wrong - we can't turn the oven on to bake but it is still on all the time at a very low temperature. Well, this is perfect for warming plates before dinner or our cocoa cups but I'm sure it isn't energy efficient. And lately, I have noticed the temperature is getting warmer. I have been worrying that one day I'll open the oven and it will be 400 degrees in there. So I will miss the warming oven, but not too much.

Because we are getting a new "range" this week. I will celebrate by baking - something. Maybe cookies. Or something wholesome like acorn squash. Probably a just a casserole, it is getting to be that kind of weather. Good bye, old stove.

Brooke

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Cutting Edge

Did you love your Cutting Edge and wish we still made them? Someone is auctioning off miscellaneous rulers and a Cutting Edge on Ebay. Here is the link Ebay

Good luck

Brooke

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

International Quilt Festival


"It appears to me, upon reading the class schedule for the quilt festival in Houston this Oct., that John Flynn is teaching all day for the first three days of the show. Will he be demonstrating his quilt frame at any time? Will you please consider posting this on your blog in lieu of a personal email. Thank you. Ramona H."

Well, this is how it usually works at Houston. John has classes during the day, but comes down to the booth to give Kate and me a break on his lunch hour. (He does stop for a "show dog" on his way back to class) So someone will always be demonstrating in the booth and, if you come by right around lunch break, John most likely will be there.

The Houston show is one of our busiest, not just because of the large crowd, but John is also on the Board of the International Quilt Association which has it's annual meeting on Wednesday, I think. If you want to join IQA and support their beautiful annual quilt show Click Here

Well, thanks for asking Ramona and hope you get a chance to stop by and try the Frame. We just got a new Janome 6600 and are enjoying using it with the Multi-Frame.

Brooke

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Everything's a Game


John and I are back from the AQS show in Nashville. It is a long drive, believe me. We were being very brave but we were only about 160 miles from home when the road construction on the two lane highway started. Pilot cars, water trucks and the whole deal and in at least six spots. We are home safe now, however and back to work. It is a little sad to know we won't be vending at the Opryland facility for the next few years. It is such a beautiful facility - really it's just a great big carefully tended greenhouse.

Kate and her friend Jaqi had fun packing batik strings in our new Chinese take out boxes this morning. They also packed boxes with strings of reproduction fabric. Very pretty - the batik take out boxes are in the web catalog already. Delicious!

John is getting ready to "tape" an episode for "The Quilt Show" with Alex Anderson and Ricky Timms. He leaves for La Veta early next week. His class will be Pickle Dish and variations - I am not sure when it will be available on the internet but we will let you know when know more.

We missed the hot weather in Tennessee and the hot weather in Montana - lucky us!

Brooke

Friday, August 15, 2008

Tiny Storm at Sea


Each year, the International Quilt Association, the organization that sponsors the judged quilt show at International Quilt Festival, has a miniature quilt auction as a fundraiser. Last year, Brooke, John and Kate each made a little quilt for the auction. Brooke's quilt raised about $60, John's over $200 and Kate's close to $300. So there is a little competition going on here, because we are all going to donate quilts again. Kate's is already done, except the binding. John is busy piecing his. Brooke's pieces are all cut out - so she is far behind.

Here is a picture of John's little quilt in progress.

More news, the fire at Red Lodge is mostly OUT, 85% contained. The smoke is out of the air, hooray! Brooke and John leave tomorrow to vend at the AQS Quilt Show in Nashville, Tennessee. (The van is getting new brakes right now) We haven't been out vending for a while so it will be good to see our friends and meet new folks. Come by if you have time!


Brooke

Monday, August 4, 2008

More Boots




Great Uncle John's cowboy boots were a lot of fun and a big crowd pleaser this weekend. These cute, smart girls are our grand nieces who visited for lunch on Sunday, in spite of the smoke.

We also had a Trivial Pursuit contest; mixed results. I am pretty sure we won the last game, there was some confusion. There were also too many sports questions; I can usually figure out a good percentage of the questions but not in sports, please.

Good news about the Cascade fire; they have it 44% contained which is a big improvement over the first part of last week. Lots of heliocopters and slurry bombers working over the ridge from us; one million thanks to these firefighters and to all firefighters.

Brooke

Friday, August 1, 2008

Weekends are Great


We are just leaving for Red Lodge for a weekend of barbecue and Trivial Pursuit. Even though it is still smoky from the "Cascade" fire, we are upwind enough that I think it will be fine. I attended theTown Meeting about the fire last night and, even though the fire is up to 10,000 acres now, things went better yesterday and there are now fire lines in place. So can't worry too much about that, the experts are doing their very best.


Here is Kate's latest pre-cut kit called "Kite Eating Fence". She is having too much fun; this is in the web catalog and is just right for a quick summer project - only $30! Our website http:/www.flynnquilt.com


Wish us luck in the Trivial Pursuit contest; we are a little rusty!


Brooke

Monday, July 28, 2008

Fire

Some of you have heard about the wildland fire, Cascade, that started Saturday in the Beartooth Mountains west and south of Red Lodge. Thanks you for your concern, so far things are okay.

Right now, the fire is "zero" contained, it is such a steep area. It is an Incident One fire now, which means that the crack firefighting teams, slurry bombers etc are working on it. About 200 families have been evacuated. Our home is about 5 miles from the fire, mostly to the east and we haven't been evacuated at this time.

We are hoping for cool weather and no wind. Here are a couple of websites, if you are interested. http://www.billingsgazette.com It is a front page story today. Also, you can go to our website http://www.flynnquilt.com to the Links button and at the very bottom is a link to Red Lodge, Montana. There is a web cam for Red Lodge Mountain Ski resort there and you will see that they have their snow making machines spraying water all over the slopes to slow the fire down if it gets closer.

We are keeping our ears open to see if we need to gather things (quilts and pictures) up and head out.

Brooke

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Made for Walkin'


How many quilters sit at their Singer 1591 sewing machine and polish their cowboy boots?

John leaves tomorrow to teach in Nebraska. Then he is home until we head for Nashville in late August.

A new quilt is hanging on the wall, an eight pointed star - it will show up here and in the pre-cut kit section of the catalog in the next couple of days. It's handsome!

Stay cool

Brooke

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Maggie Agrees to an Experiment

Okay, here is the story. Maggie lives with Kate and Kevin. She is a miniature Australian Shepard and is a very good dog. She loves the sprinklers and chasing the sprinkler as it turns is her very favorite. If she is inside, she still tries to lick the sprinkler through glass door. Go, Maggie, go.

The experiment, of course, is to see if I can really put a video on the blog. If it works, we'll do some videos of quilt related stuff.

Let's go run through the sprinkler!

Brooke

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

A Delightful Woman


Kind, wise, funny, a magical gardener and great cook. And many other things to all of us - John's Mom died early this morning. We will absolutely miss her.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Back to Work

How was your Fourth of July? We enjoyed the parade in Red Lodge and had a modest houseful for barbecue. Everything went well - the homemade ice cream was definitely soft serve but tasty. Better the next day! We enjoyed all our company but especially the grand nieces, 3 and 5.

Kate and I are helping John get packed for his workshops in Flagstaff Arizona. The following weekend is a state convention in Chadron, Nebraska so he will be on the road and on the road and on the road. I will post pictures of some of the kits he is taking later - there are some nice ones.

You might be interested in what T Boone Pickens is saying about wind power, about foreign oil, about natural gas and about the presidential campaign. For myself, I do think it is really unfortunate to depend on the countries who hate us for such an important commodity. You can check him out at this link.

Stay cool!

Brooke

Monday, June 30, 2008

Happy Fourth of July Anyway


It still surprises me when, from time to time, someone in our big quilt world decides to take advantage of another quilter just to make a buck, to promote a product, to sell a magazine. This little graphic goes along with what our mothers always told us "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."

Anyway, have a wonderful and safe Fourth of July. We are having a BIG barbecue and, I think, lots of barbecue eaters and maybe some fishermen. And John promised to take me to the parade - watch out for the firetrucks and those water cannons!

Brooke

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Rock Creek

I am back from vending at the Martha Pullen Market in Arlington, Texas. While not a "quilt" show, there were lots of things for quilters to see and do and buy! The heirloom christening gowns were a sight to behold and to admire. You should go to one of the Martha Pullen events when there is one in your area - wow!

John is resting for a few days in Dallas before flying out to teach at the Vermont Quilt Festival this weekend. Repacking the three suitcases of quilts we had with us in Arlington was one of his projects. Vermont is one of his favorite teaching venues.

Kate and Kevin took this picture of beautiful Rock Creek in high water. Rock Creek is swift enough that you need to be careful of it even when it is low - your feet can go right out from under you. No fishing when it is this high but the water rushing by is great for a sound night's sleep.

Brooke

Monday, June 9, 2008

More Wildflowers


We have had an unusually wet spring and cool days and nights which is saving the snow pack in the mountains. There is a nice patch of Lupine right outside our kitchen door which we really enjoy. I wish it would spread. The Beargrass is in bloom right now too, so delicate.

While we are enjoying the wildflowers and native grasses, our neighbor has paid someone to dig the rocks out of his "lawn" so he can mow it more easily. Everybody is different.

Is this what you Texas quilters call "Bluebonnet"?

Brooke

Thursday, June 5, 2008

WOW




Do you like this one? John and Kate are busy getting ready for the Martha Pullen Market in Arlington, Texas (June 19 - 21) and for the Vermont Quilt Festival which is the next weekend.


Martha Pullen Sewing Market
Vermont Quilt Festival


This bright spiral is one of the class projects for Vermont, a pre-cut kit so students don't have to spend all morning cutting - just go right to sewing. John's is almost pieced and I'm not sure what he is going to work on next.

Brooke

Monday, June 2, 2008

Working Weekend





John tried to plant his corn here in Billings, but the ground is still too wet. Too bad, now it is sunny and good weather for corn growing. He will be able to plant sometime this week, I'm sure.


We drove up to Red Lodge with our usual car full of projects. (Including laundry, but that's not very interesting.) We have a new track lighting system in the loft where we sew and, boy, that's nice. John pieced the newest colorway of the 6" Wheel of Mystery; it is from fabric Kate just bought at Market. The colorway is pastel. These are kits for John's Wheel of Mystery class at the Vermont Quilt Festival in July, so if you are signed up for the class, here is your project, hot off the press! We will have these available on the website and at shows, so everyone can have one if they like it.


I quilted on a black and bright 10" Wheel of Mystery top that has been traveling to classes and shows almost too long and was starting to fray along the edges. It is a pretty quilt and I got about 1/2 done before it was time to pack up and head back to Billings. What a monster thunderstorm we saw on the way back - impressive.


Well, back to Monday's sorting out and filing and searching and all that. Three boxes of new fabrics came today, so that is fun!


Brooke

Thursday, May 22, 2008

BUSY


It's nice to be home. Kate and I had a fun but fast paced trip to Quilt Market in Portland. There is a lot of new fabric coming our way. Portland is about 1,000 miles away so it was a long drive. I learned that other drivers are a lot nicer to someone driving a Honda than they are to a someone driving a 13 passenger van. Oh well.

John and Kate are busy getting ready for Martha's Sewing Market in Arlington in mid June. One of the classes John will be teaching at the show is Arabic Lattice and Kate designed a new set for it yesterday. John has the top pieced already, isn't it great?

I'm working on the website and getting a newsletter ready. Have a great weekend!

Brooke

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Bright Days Ahead


We are back from vending at our last show for a while. The next one isn't until mid-June; I know, it's not that far away, but we are all looking forward to catching up and actually having a weekend off! Kate and I are driving to Portland, Oregon tomorrow for the Spring Quilt Market, but that is to BUY, not to sell.

Our last show was a regional machine quilting show in Salt Lake City, beautiful this time of the year. It is a nice show and not nearly as crowded and hectic as some of the bigger ones. I believe they had some good educational opportunities and there were some very nice quilts there. John won a ribbon, 3rd place in his category. He liked winning a prize, but did not like having his picture taken! I would probably feel the same way! The quilt is "Supernova", machine quilted on the Multi-Frame, of course.

Well, trying to tie up loose ends before the big drive tomorrow.

Brooke

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Spring in Montana


Well, it is early for spring. Today it will be 80, they tell us but tomorrow only up to 50. Typical spring weather. I took this picture of a pasque flower (some people call them crocus) at Red Lodge on April 19, just before Kate and I flew to Nashville for the AQS show in Paducah. This very modest little wildflower doesn't compare to the spectacular red bud and dogwood trees that are blooming right now in Kentucky and Tennessee but I am always so glad to see the pasque flowers struggle back when the snow has melted.


We enjoyed the show in Paducah and met lots of old and new friends. Quilters are one big family, after all. Even though we were so busy, we did have a chance to visit from time to time. The Best of Show quilt was done by a teacher friend of John's and also won a prize at the IQA show in Houston last fall. There is a very special story about the inspiration for Ted Storm's quilt and I'm sure if you subscribe to the American Quilter magazine, they will have it there later this year.


John is off to teach in Denver this weekend and then we both vend at a machine quilting show in Salt Lake City. Hope your spring is beautiful.


Brooke

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Ticking Away


John is driving home from teaching in Chicago at the Spring International Quilt Fesitval. He liked his students - some in his class had been coming since the very first Chicago show. He left his cell phone in a motel last night so I haven't heard from him much today. (The motel was very nice and is sending it back to us tomorrow.)


I finished quilting a little project this weekend, it needs to be bound still. I also worked on my substitute headboard which is three of those old fashioned rose botanical prints framed with a red ticking. Sometimes I am all thumbs but I got one done and here is the effect. That is a picture of Kate when she was 7 in the upper right, she made that frame in pre-school. And it didn't take her all day either.


Brooke

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Spring Brunch


This young deer and his mother have been wintering here next to our shop in Billings. There really isn't a whole lot deer food around; leftovers from the garden and there are apple trees out in the back. This guy was looking for some greenery today and I hope he found enough to eat. I know John will be fencing him and his buddies out of the garden soon.


He is really shaggy and will be glad to be rid of that winter coat.
Brooke

Show and Tell


A very nice student in John's Machine Quilting class in Lancaster brought in a wall hanging she started in a Dresden Plate class John taught last year at Lancaster. She really did a great job of choosing fabrics as well as all her piecing, applique and quilting. We really appreciate her letting us take a picture, and I'm sorry I didn't get her name!


John's next classes are in Chicago at the Spring Quilt Festival; we are helping him get ready. I have a little quilt to machine quilt this weekend and John will be putting together the sample for a new colorway of the 10" Wheel of Mystery pre-cut kit, it is very pretty!


Hope you are enjoying early spring!


Brooke

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Fly Away

I'm writing this while I am still mad. Kate and I missed our 5:30 p.m. flight out of Denver back in to Billings by literally 45 seconds and the two fellows who were running behind us missed it by 60 and 62 seconds. We were late getting in to Denver from Washington DC and then were 60, yes, sixty gates away from our Denver to Billings gate. You know the airline knew we were on the late flight and that we were 60 gates away - the obvious question is, Why couldn't you wait for us?

So we got home to Billings at 12:30 last night. To compound the irritation, we waited on the ground in the Denver/Billings flight for 5 more passengers who were on a flight that was coming in late.

I'm not saying that all the gate people and customer service people weren't nice and helpful, it's just that common sense and logic don't seem to fit in anywhere in the equation anymore.

Tomorrow I will post a photo of a very pretty Dresden Plate wallhanging that a student brought to John's class in Lancaster, wow!

Friday, March 21, 2008



Do the Canadian Geese sit in trees where you live?? For several years, there has been a pair of geese who fly up in to the cottonwood trees across the road from us and perch there like they know what they are doing. It's forty five feet off the ground and they sit up there and peck at the dead branch instead of flying another 200 yards north and eating leftover wheat and corn from the fields like the other geese. To each his own, I guess.

We are finally done packing for our next show which is Lancaster, Pennsylvania next weekend. Unfortunately, John will miss Easter dinner because he will be on the road. We will think of him while we watch the grand nieces hunt for eggs! Kate and I leave Tuesday so the office will be closed until the following Tuesday, April 1.

Hope you have a wonderful Easter, if that is a holiday you celebrate. We can all celebrate the arrival of spring!

Brooke