Day 2-Smooth Sailing

Although the day seams more like Storm at Sea, it is day 2 of the Smooth Sailing Quilt Tour. Yesterday the weather was sunny and warm, today is a different story. This is good news for all you NW Quilters. No yard work for you, you can spend your whole day visiting the 15 shops on the tour, guilt free!!

We had several people who finished all 15 shops yesterday! Maybe they are home sewing away today. It would be a great day to start your Smooth Sailing Quilt.

This blurry little picture is from 1983, Christopher, Matthew, Bill and Kimberley out for a sail in Puget Sound on the Moonlight. Precious memories. J

With the 29th annual Quilters Anonymous Quilt Show behind us, and a cup of coffee at my side, I am preparing myself for the 3rd annual Tri-County Quilt Tour. If you are new to this event, I will give you the run down.

The 15 quilt shops are in Snohomish, Skagit and Whatcom Counties. Keepsake Cottage is the Southern most shop. It is 91 miles from Keepsake to Tangled Threads in Lynden. The shopowners meet several times a year to plan fun events for our favorite customers-you know who you are! In September we met and exchanged nautical themed blocks for this years tour. Each shop then planned and stitched their own version of the Smooth Sailing quilt. We all had them hanging in our shops on March 1st. Now, this is where the 'tour' comes in. Our Favorite Customers starting Touring each shop, collecting patterns as they go, and decide which version of the quilt they want to make. That's what we call 'fun'.

I hope lots of you are planning on joining us for this fun event. It starts Wednesday, March 24th and goes thru Saturday March 27th. We will all be open from 9am to 7pm. J

National Quilting Day

Today, March 20th is National Quilting Day. Did this holiday sneak up on you? I did see it mentioned from one of my vendors, but it isn't listed on my calendar. I don't think anyone at my house remembered this date. However, I have been saving this picture for a special occasion, and I think this is it!

Last summer when my BFF was in Sisters for the big quilt show, she sent this picture to me. Isn't it amazing! I can't imagine how (or why) this could be accomplished. I guess it is the perfect cover for your car when you are going to a quilt show, but man what a lot of work!!

The windows and the windshield are covered with a plastic mesh. If you made something like this, you could never get rid of your car. Alterations for a new car would be a nightmare. I wonder if one person made this, or if it was a group effort. It looks like the blocks were from many projects, maybe from many people. How in the heck did they quilt it? How do they wash it? It is very puzzling to me, I have tons of questions about this 'car quilt', but there is no one to ask. So, if you know this maker, would you please have them contact me. I will do an interview and report back to you!

Happy National Quilting Day! J

Plans for the weekend?

It's finally here, QA's big quilt show. It's such a wonderful show, we all look forward to March!

My husband and sons are happy I am out of the house, so I don't get in the way of March Madness.

This year there will be over 500 quilts on display! Sounds yummy to me. There will be 30 merchants to tempt you. Our booth will be in the main building, so come say "Hi". We have several new samples that will be hanging, it's always fun to put them up and see them for the first time!

I am in love with this years poster. Lisa Jenni is a wonderful artist and a member of Quilters Anonymous. She has painted the poster for several years now. In the past they have had posters for sale, as well as note cards. It's a great way to add a little art work to your sewing room, and support QA at the same time.

If you live locally and are not a member of Quilters Anonymous, you should consider joining. They have wonderful national speakers and workshops. It is also a great way to find 'like minded' quilting buddies. Not all of our friends understand the 'need' to have plastic tubs filled with color coded fabric, or the stack of unfinished projects, or the cupboards filled with finished quilts. If I had a nickle for every time someone asked me 'what are you going to do with another quilt....' J

JUST IN

Once in a while a magazine comes thru the door that I just can't get enough of, and this is one of those. It is more like a coffee table book. There are beautiful antique quilts, which I adore. And then they have remade the quilts in contemporary fabrics. There are multiple size charts, (a shop owners dream) and close up photos of the hand quilting. I often wonder when I see old quilts, how did they do such beautiful work? The instructions were often just word of mouth, with templates cut from what ever they had. Mostly they were hand stitched with 1/8" seam allowance. The lighting was poor at best. Their needle threaders were small children. Design Walls?? Many of these quilts were made in log cabins with dirt floors. What were their scissors like? They probably used the same pair for all of their needs, from cutting hair to cutting wire. Really these women were as amazing as their quilts. Their lives were simpler in many ways, but much harder in their day to day existence. I wish the quilts came with stories of their makers.

Whether you like the old or the new quilts in the Bookazine, it is one that you will want to keep in your library for inspiration. J

SMOOTH SAILING

Today I received and email from Carol Stewart, owner of Fabric-etc, in Bellingham. She has been posting one block a day as a 'tease' for the Quilt Tour. The lighthouse block was the 1st one she shared, made me proud! Carol attached a photo of her finished quilt, and all I can say is WOW! What a creative mind she has. You must go to her blog www.fabric-etc.com/blog.htm and watch her daily show and tell, scroll back to March 2, so you can see all of the blocks. You will have to wait to see the finished quilt, but it will be well worth the wait! J

SMOOTH SAILING

If it's March it must be Quilt Tour month! This year's theme is Smooth Sailing. The 15 quilt shops in Snohomish, Skagit and Whatcom County have each made a quilt using the nautical themed blocks. You can make your own Smooth Sailing quilt by visiting each shop during the Quilt Tour.
The dates are March 24-27, from 9am to 7pm. We have been planning this party for months, so we hope many of you will attend!
www.quilttour.com

MISS ROSIE IS ON THE RADIO!

I love the look of Carrie Nelson's quilts, 'organized scrappy'. She has new patterns coming out nearly every month. This spring she will have 2 new books. One from That Patchwork Place and one from Leisure Arts. I am looking forward to both of them. BTW, Miss Rosie is Carrie Nelson's faithful companion. Always encouraging her, besides, doesn't she always look wonderful next to Carrie's quilts?

Today, however, I am looking forward to listening to her on the radio. Yes, if you hop on over to http://patslone.typepad.com you can hear Pat Slones' interview with Carrie. You can also listen to Pat's first 3 radio shows. They are live on Monday's, but you can listen to the past shows, also. Way Cool! Last week she interviewed a good friend of mine, Roseanne Kermes. Roseanne owns a quilt shop in White Bear Lake, MN, Rosebuds Cottage. It was fun to hear her on the radio show, love the accent! Check out her blog, http://rosebudscottage.typepad.com .

FYI the Smooth Sailing Quilt is hanging in the shop. I will post a photo tomorrow. J