A WIP is Finished!

I've been listening to Allison Rosen encourage us to finish old projects and make new ones from all those piles of magazines we have been collecting for years, so I decided yesterday to reach into my box of unfinished projects and clean up some of them. The first one I came to was this lovely wallhanging, which was nearly complete, only needed some finishing touches to the quilting and binding. I bought this as a kit in Whitefish, Montana, at a fun little quilting shop there, but I can't remember the name of it. It's a McKenna Ryan pattern, who, I found out, lives just down the road apiece from the quilt shop where I bought it. It reminds me of so many great visits to Waterton Lakes in southern Alberta and a few trips to Glacier National Park in Montana, and if you know me at all, you know that I am a mountain girl, so this wallhanging makes me smile every time I walk by it. And part of the reason I smile is simply because IT IS FINISHED!

Back Again and Better Than Ever!

It's good to be back in the blogging world. I took a break thinking it would only be for a couple of months, but things are dragging on longer than I had hoped, so I decided I'd get back to my sort of weekly updates. As hinted in the last post, big things are coming for Patchplay. Lori and I are working hard and hope to have a big announcement by January 2010 at the latest. It's taking a long time to do all the work we have to do simply because we still have to work at regular, boring, non-quilty jobs in order to eat and pay the mortgage and the utility bills. So, like the famous duck, we may look calm and unruffled up top, but underneath the water we're paddling like mad!

While I can't show you pictures yet of what we are working on, I can tell you how excited we are to finally be developing our own designs into patterns. It's been a very rewarding process so far, and if we never make a penny, still the personal growth and satisfaction will have been worth it.

As far as my private quilting life, there hasn't been much of it, but I do have a new kit that I bought in Jasper to work on, some lovely wildflowers by McKenna Ryan, and so it will be added to the ever-growing pile of kits. I sometimes think I like the idea of having a kit more than making a kit. And I did recently help my daughter-in-law make her first quilt, a gift for a friend's new daughter, so that was fun, and hopefully we have made a new convert!

Stay Tuned for Coming Attractions

I know many of you thought I had given up on the blogging world, but, no, that's not true at all. It's just that Lori and I have been very busy lately with some extremely exciting things involving us and the quilting world. You will have to be kept in suspense for a while longer yet, but I'll just say that we are working toward a fall launch of something new and fabulous. I think it will be worth the wait.

Clothes for Carmen

I've been wanting to post this for a while, but I was worried my daughter-in-law would see the pictures before the baby shower, so I waited. I have been busy sewing baby clothes and it has been so fun. I made a cute little romper and some baby booties, but by far my favortie is the sailor dress I made for Carmen, complete with a sailor hat (which is, unfortunately, still too big for her). For some odd reason, particularly since I have always lived in a land-locked part of the world, I have a great love for the sailor outfit. All of my kids had one, and so when I saw the pattern for this particular sailor dress, it very loudly called out to me and I was helpless to resist.

I wish I had a picture of Carmen wearing her sailor dress, but since I do not, I will also attach here, for your viewing pleasure, a picture of her in her blessing outfit, the same dress worn by her mother when she was a baby. It is hand-crocheted and gorgeous, and she looked like the angel she is in it.

Oh, by the way, the sign that says "Carmen" was made by my daughter, Denise. Isn't it fabulous! It was the hit of the shower.

A Plethora of Podcasts

It all started with Annie Smith's Quilting Stash, the first podcast for quilters. I remember when I first discovered the podcast in 2007, I went back and listened to every single show, clear back to 2005. I was listening to a recent Quilting Stash podcast the other day and found it unbelievable when Annie mentioned that there were still some quilters who had not heard of her or her podcast. She's practically an icon, people! She has interviewed virtually every well-known personality in the quilting industry, written articles for Quilter's Home magazine , has her own line of patterns, and hosts a twice-yearly quilting retreat in Cambria, California.

Alex Anderson started her podcast, Quilt Connection, in 2006. While the frequency of new podcasts has slowed down considerably since The Quilt Show started, she does still post new episodes every couple months or so. Alex knows practically everyone worth knowing in the quilting industry, so her podcast is full of name-dropping and news of the upper eschelons of the quilting world.

Within a Quarter Inch, Allison Rosen's podcast, was the next podcast I discovered. She started broadcasting in 2008, I think. Sorry if I got that wrong, Allison. Listening to Within a Quarter Inch is like listening to a good friend talk about her day. It's highly entertaining and full of anecdotes from her home and work life, as well as a lot of really excellent quilting information.

Since around the end of 2008 and into 2009, there have been several new quilting podcats started. Patchwork and Pacifiers, by Jennifer Ruvalcaba, The Pioneer Quilter, by Kelley, Sew-Stitch-Create, by Brye Lynn, and The Quilted Cupcake, by Jean. It's great to see so many new people willing to share their quilting knowledge and personal quilting journeys with all of us. At the end a long, hard, very non-quilty day, I love to listen to them and be inspired and reminded of why I love quilting so much.

Looky What I Found

You have to admire the crocus, especially the Canadian crocus. They come bursting out into a world of brown and white, reminding us that spring really will come again. I love this little guy, because even though he is white, he is an alive and growing white. Oh, you have given me hope, Mr. Crocus. So good to see you again!

My Granddaughter

She's here! She's finally here! Carmen Reese Garner arrived at 11:29 a.m. on Wednesday, April 8, weighing in at 7 pounds, 15 ounces and 20 inches long. It had been a long time since I held an hours-old baby in my arms, and it was so special. She is, of course, the most beautiful baby in the world, but what amazed us most was that the entire two hours we were there visiting in the hospital she was awake and happy. I tried to have a little soul-to-soul conversation with her as I held her. Carmen would look at my face with that unfocussed newborn look, and when I would talk to her, she would turn towards my voice. I know she has things she could tell us if only she could talk.

Carmen, we love you already. Welcome to earth, and welcome to our family. You have wrapped yourself around our hearts already, and we are yours to command.