Montana in May

Well, this is really not unexpected...it is pretty normal for Montana, especially near the mountains.  But, I'll bet it doesn't look like this today where you are (unless you are in one of Arctic regions)  I was really trying to get John to agree that it was time to transplant my tomatoes and especially, the cucumbers, outside because they are so ready but he said "wait until after Memorial Day".  Okay, good idea.  We have another couple of days of cold and snow and then 70.  They Promise!



I just spent a couple of days putting all the laser pre-cut kits Kate and John designed for the spring shows on the website.  You should take a look; they are a perfect summer vacation project (those of you who actually have summer weather)  Catalog

Okay, enough whining - John is reading and it looks like a good time to curl up under a lap robe and enjoy the last of the daylight and our unusual view out the window.  Enjoy the long weekend and, a sincere thank you to everyone who made our freedom possible and who protects it now.

Brooke

New Kit and New Techie Skill(?)

Mother's Day at our house; a great breakfast, surprising and thoughtful gifts for Mom, garden talk, then off to the sewing loft to quilt.

My project for the last three weeks, it seems, has been to conquer our Sony Handycam so I can take videos for the blog and website and for my volunteer project at the Beartooth Nature Center as Facebook photographer. (Please go to either the Beartooth Nature Center's website or Facebook page and take a look.  I did not take most of the pictures but you will love the photos of these cute animals; talk about personality!)  

Anyway, back to the video cam self education project; oh, it is best to have the lens cover open.  And then the battery has to be charged.  And the DVD has to have enough room for all your recording.  And yes, if you are over 50, you better have your reading glasses with you to see the little bitty icons and other such.  So after much trial and error, I finally have a small finished video of the project John is quilting today, an Ohio Star laser cut kit.  It is a very cute addition to the red and white collection.  Don't laugh, I will get better at this     .Brooke's First Video and John's Red and White Quilt

Let's see, the quilt shows are over for a while, John has a teaching engagement in Idaho in about a week.  Kate is busy with her custom laser cut kits.  In addition to my immersion into video taking, I am thinking about joining the Tuesday afternoon quilting group.  That may be a good way to get some of those UFOs out of the way.  Then there are the dozens of little seedlings I started, waiting to be transplanted outside.  Do I dare do that in May in Montana, I wonder?

Brooke

Headed for Kentucky

Well, the time came for the kit making and quilting and last bit of binding to stop and the packing and traveling to begin.  There are lots of new kits going to Paducah along with templates, frames and books.  Kate and Kevin fly out tomorrow and John leaves too, in the trusty Ford van.  

I thought it was fun to take pictures of the quilt packing.  I'm not sure Kate and John were that entertained.  John uses hard sided suitcases for his quilts and two of the suitcases have names.  Doesn't everyone name their luggage?  Mustard and Ketchup.  Yes, we do have a checklist so that we don't forget anything.  It works about  90% of the time.  I took a picture of the van with the back doors closed just to prove that all that stuff really did fit in the van.  There is even room for John and his clothes in front.  

So I hope they have safe travels and a good show and I hope everyone headed for Paducah travels safe.  The dogs and I are keeping an eye on the home place.  Brooke

Make your own free digital slideshow

April News

First, I have a little photo of Montana daffodils.  I know the rest of the country (and hemisphere!) has already had their spring fix of beautiful daffodils, but spring comes late here.  These little guys are only about 3" tall and have already survived two snow storms.  So the snow is gone for now.  The bigger daffodils will open soon; these are tough flowers aren't they!


It is almost time for that great quilt show, the American Quilters Society Show in Paducah, Kentucky.  I will tell you, Kate and John have been busy as bees getting ready - of course there will be an ongoing demonstration of the Flynn Multi-Frame but there are lots of new pre-cut kits; some elegant, some whimsical, all really accurate and a joy to sew.  A little slide show of some of the new kits follows.  I will work hard at getting these in to the web catalog; I'm not kidding there are really a lot of the new kits. 

Customize a free slideshow Everyone leaves for the Paducah show this weekend.  Kate and Kevin will have a day or two sightseeing while John drives down - I have the fun job of dog sitting; I predict many walks and some sessions of catch.  I will wear out before Maggie, and that's okay.  Enjoy early spring, wherever you are! Brooke

Four New Pre-cut Kits

Kate and John have been busy cutting and piecing these four new variations of the Floating Log Cabin.  This is such a cute quilt and goes together fast.  I love the optical illusion you get of kind of wonky blocks even though they are all straight lines and symetrical and so forth.  I can't decide which one is my favorite although the plaid one is looking pretty good!  Catalog

A free photo slideshow by Smilebox

The next shows are in Puyallup, Washington SewExpo and in Hampton, Virginia Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival.  This is the three week period when everyone is spread out literally from coast to coast, Kate in Washington state and John in Virginia.  So I hope you will get to take in one of these shows; the AQS Show in Lancaster, Pennsylvania is next, then Paducah!

I see that it is finally snowing again; we have had a real dry spell. Two weeks ago, I put up some of that bright orange snow fence south of our long driveway; about 100' of it.  I did the best I could, but is a pretty ugly job, since the snow was already at least 2' deep where I wired it to the existing barb wire fence. Well, if the wind comes up this week, we'll see if it stops the drifting ...or makes it worse!

Happy Valentine's Day; I am taking my sweetheart to dinner at Bridge Creek, how about you?  Brooke

Back from California and New Kits

John and Kate are back from Ontario, California and the great Road to California Show.  There were lots of quilters and they got to visit some with our vendor friends, but it was BUSY in the booth; that is a good thing.  The bad thing(s) were that the cash register died an untimely death somewhere on the long trip down and so did the radio credit card swipe machine.  Poor Kate had to use one of the old fashioned card imprint machines while a new radio swipe machine Fed Exed its way to the hotel.  But things calmed down after that.

The kits that sold well at Road were the Woodsy colorway of "Carnival" and the plaid "Floating Cabin".  You can see both of them hanging in the booth in these photos Kate took one morning before the crowds arrived.And, just in case you are interested, here are links to the kits in our catalog.

"Woodsy" Carnival Pre-cut Kit, 48" x 60""

Closeup of "Woodsy" Carnival Pre-cut Kit

Plaid colorway, "Floating Cabin" Pre-cut Kit, 39" x 46"

John's quilt "Piano Rag" was included in an exhibit at Road, "All That Jazz", curated by Ricky Tims; very appropriate for the theme.  Here are all the exhibited quilts from Ricky Tims' website  All That Jazz

Friday, while Kate and John were vending and I was happily doing bookwork in the Billings office, the furnace repair guy came to replace a motor (I believe) on the elderly forced air furnace.  After a few clanky minutes, he reappeared to tell me that he needed another part which had to be ordered and that he had disabled the furnace as it wasn't safe now.  Well, that would have been tolerable if it had been in the 40s or even the 30s but it was TEN BELOW ZERO and we had 8 inches of snow.  I had to buy three quartz heaters to keep the pipes from freezing in the office and shop over the weekend.  The new part has come in and has been installed and Kate says it is now toasty in the office.  Toasty is better.

Kate has just finished piecing a cute and clever pre-cut quilt kit for Valentine's Day.  Watch for our newsletter in the next few days for a look at it; there are limited quantities and you have time to get a good start on it before Valentine's Day flutters in.

Take care
Brooke

A Christmas Holiday Project

There was a big pile of snow at the bottom of our driveway after it was plowed last week.  The snow was just right for sculpting.  Here is a little Smilebox of the project!

This photo slideshow personalized with Smilebox I hope to get a little quilting done this week; John is working on another red and white miniature; they are so cute.  Have a Happy New Year and we will have lots of pictures of new kits to show you Next Year! Brooke