Minnesota All-Stars

Thank you to all who left a comment attempting to wow me with your pattern naming expertise. After fretting, chewing off all my fingernails, twirling my hair around my finger, staring off into space, and even loosing a little sleep over naming this quilt, I've taken the advice of a very wise reader.

Annette said...

How about Minnesota's All Stars?

I'm a baseball fan, too, can you tell?

I say, Annette, that's a wonderful name...I'm a baseball fan too! Go Twins!
So, Heerrrrrreeeeee's.......

Minnesota All-Stars!

Patterns are available at the shop now and Annette, I will deliver your bundle 5 fats to the store today for you to pick up. They will be at the check out station in the "rain-check" drawer. Please pick them up before September 1st. Oh yeah, Annette, who knows....I may even stick a pattern in there too...wink, wink.

Well, I'll be back later with more pictures of our great Minnesota projects.

~K

Time again....

During the month of July, I've spent a majority of my time at the community theatre playing in the pit for their summer presentation of Gypsy. 4-7 hours a night, 5-7 days a week. A ton of rehearsing and 8 public shows. Needless to say, on Saturday when it closed I had this empty, bittersweet, feeling. I now have time again. Time again to sew. Time again to weed my flowers. Time again to ride horse. Time again to cook, exercise and attempt to eat health, and time again to blog. In memory of my time spent with Gypsy, I share with you one of my favorite parts....there are a lot of favorites, don't worry, I'll share more :)



Also, here is a REALLY cute new kit...I think I need it :)

I will be back SOON!

~K

Quilters....Start your engines!

The great MN Shop Hop is about to begin!

Gas up the family truckster and get ready to put the

pedal to the metal!

Quilt Minnesota 2011

Friday, July 29—Sunday, August 14
Over 80 Minnesota’s Quilt Shops Participating

Grand Prize—Trip for two to beautiful Alaska

Visit the official Quilt Minnesota Website

SE Minnesota Section Shops

All In Stitches, Stewartville

Calico Hutch, Hayward

Fourth & Main Fabrics, Cannon Falls

Pine Needles Quilt Shop, Racine

Quilter’s Dream, Montgomery

Quilter’s Quarters, Spring Valley

Quilting by the Hearth, Lonsdale

Rather Bee Quilting, Lake City

The Quilting Cupboard, Rochester

Free Fats....What!? 158 days till Christmas !?

Gas up the car and call the friends....it's a shop hop!

Enjoy stash building at the 7 wonderful shops and don't forget,

only 158 shopping days till Christmas1

Super Duper Stash Dash

“CHRISTMAS IN JULY”

July 20-23, 2011

“EVERYONE IS A WINNER”

Receive a free fat quarter with any purchase at each shop during the shop hop

Receive a free pattern for a 12-inch Christmas-themed tree block at each shop

Get your passport stamped at each shop to be eligible to win the $525 Grand Prize

All Shops Open (plus each shop’s regular hours)

Wednesday, Friday and Saturday 9—5 PM, Thursday 9-8 PM

7 Participating Shops

Calico Hutch, Hayward MN

Seams to Me, Algona IA

The Quilted Forest, Forest City IA

Saintly Stitches, St Ansgar IA

Saintly Stitches, Mason City IA

Debbie’s Quilt Shop and Gifts Osage IA

Iowa Falls Sewing Machine Company, Iowa Falls IA

Have Fun!

Lazy, Crazy, Hazy, Dog Days of Summer

Just a friendly reminder: Are you folks of the Minnesota area ready for the lazy, crazy, hazy days of summer? The dog days are in the forecast for the next week or so I'm officially issuing mandatory sewing time for all of you readers...after all, can you think of anything better to do when it's over 100 deg. out? - besides cooking eggs on your sidewalk that is!

So...be sure you have your survival kit ready. You will need:

* Thread

* Fun new kit

* Sharp blade in your rotary cutter

* Quilting magazine

* Wool project

* Awesome fat quarters

* Coordinating fabrics to play with

* Needles

* Sewing machine in good working order

If you're missing any of the above, I bet you know where you can find them. And as always...remember the shop is open till 9 pm tonight and then 9am - 5pm tomorrow!

Also, remember if you're making quilts for Christmas gifts, now is a good time to work on those and get them to the quilter....we all know about those waiting lists :)

Along with basking in a pile of frozen water, add a glass of iced tea and my Civil War Tribute blocks and this is that state in which I can be found this weekend

Keep cool and enjoy your sewing time!
PS: Don't forget to throw some water at your petunias from time to time!

~K

Ta Da! ****you could win 5 fats****

I now know how long it takes to finish a quilt when you only have time to work on it 1 hour at a time.
So..."Here she is boys....here she is world....Miss Gypsy Rose Lee".

Sorry about the random reference to the Broadway Musical Gypsy, It has consumed my life lately. What I meant to say was..."Here it is quilters...here it is friends....my MN quilt with no name".

So...Here's where you come in. Leave comments with possible name suggestions for this quilt and you could win a bundle of 5 fat quarters from this special MN fabric line.

Things to keep in mind when thinking of names:
1) Fabric was created for the MN Shop Hop
2) Most all fabrics reflect MN in some way
3) Fussy cut MN Scenes

Hope you all think of a winner ;)
~K

** 29% off SALE**

Did you see we're having a BIG sale at the shop?

The Calico Hutch has been open for business for 29 years so thus the

"29 and HOLDING ON TIGHT Sale

29% offalmost EVERYTHING!

Books/patterns

Kits

Notions

Thread

Bernina 300 Series machines

Bernette new models

Select Bernina accessories

Stop by and shop:Monday July 11, 9am - 9pm

Tuesday July 12, 9am - 5pm

Wednesday July 13, 9am - 5pm

I'm Making progress!

I have the star portion of all the blocks pieced! I'm very satisfied with how they turned out as well as how nicely the scenes on the focal fabric fussy cut out.

Now for the corners.....tonight??

Note: This is the prototype block...the "real" corner triangles won't have red...just green, blue and gray.

Also, all for corners won't be from the same strip set so nothing should match where corners meet.

FYI: This was a project that I was going to have completed by July 1st....

Ahhh.....life :)

New deadline: To the shop for quilting BY Monday July 11th.....

I can do it!

~K

Bed Turning

Last Monday (July 27) mom and I had the honor of presenting our "mother/daughter" bed turning to the ladies at the quilt guild meeting in Osage, IA.

Between the two of us, we took over 100 quilts to show. As you can see, we rolled them in groups, in order and then completely filled my dad's relatively large SUV from floor to ceiling. I hauled all the props (end tables, throw pillows, flowers, baskets, etc.) in my Jeep.

Side bar: does auto insurance cover quilts? Should we have buckled them all in?

Here's my "daughter" side. The quilt is one that sold a lot of kits at the shop.
Pattern: In and Out, Fabric: Bliss by Bonnie and Camille for Moda
The picture on the night stand is of mom and I sewing together.
We thought it was appropriate :)

Throughout the presentation, we showed quilts we've made using the same fabrics but different patterns, quilts with different fabrics but the same pattern, our first quilts, our favorite quilts and quilts that are simply that....quilts. There were also a lot of stories and laughs too....of course :)

This is mom's "mother" side. Her quilt is one of her all time favorites.
Pattern: Basket of Logs, Fabric: Cinnamon Hill Farms by Fig Tree for Moda
Quilted by: Mary Nordeng. Her and Mary entered this puppy in shows together.

In the past we've hauled 2 twin beds with us to layer all of our quilts on. This time however, we got smart. The beds are made out of an 8' table (not set up) sitting on 2 totes. Much easier to set up and we didn't need to bring a trailer!

As you can see, the ladies did a wonderful job folding and helping re-load after the gig. Looks much better than it did when we brought them. However, there was a method to our madness before....they were in order...hello!

It's always shocks me by how long it takes to put all of these away when they come home. There may or may not still be a huge pile of them in the middle of my living room. But hey, at least they aren't still in my car! When they were, people looked at me funny when I drove through places like the bank and McDonald's for Iced Tea. Oh yeah, usually about two months after the fact, one of us comes across a stray quilt that belongs to the other and the other had no clue it was missing!

We had fun and hope to visit you girls in Osage again!
It was a great night and we saw our first fire flies of the season on the way home.
~K

No Excuses!

It has been a while...too long! I have no excuses or pictures to show of my absence.
So, you may wonder where exactly have I been for the last week....here's the best I can do:

In the garden

Scooting around town on my scooter

Baking pies

Working Friday night at the shop

Eating pie

Washing clothes

Working at church

Making potato salad

Eating potato salad

On a horse

Eating steak

Eating potato salad

Musical rehearsals

(Gypsy....Albert Lea...July 14-17, 21-23)

Eating watermelon

Being carried away by mosquitoes!

Working on a wool project

Watching fireworks

Eating ice cream

On the boat

Feeding the cat

Eating strawberries

Watering plants

Doing a bed turning with mom

(hey...I have pictures of that!)

Playing in the community band

Sewing MN fabric stuff....pictures coming soon :)

ahhh....such a sweet, sweet life :)

I've missed you all and hope many wonderful patriotic celebrations were had-

~K