You made it!!!!!!

Congratulations, if you are reading this then the link worked and you have found our new site!!!!!!  Now go over to the right side and add your email address so you will receive email notification when I write a new blog post!!  You can also "share" the post you are reading on Facebook and Twitter - that would help us spread the word about Red Crinoline Quilts!!  Check out the list of blogs we like to read!  Also, any of the writing that appears in brown is an active link and when you click on the words it should take you directly to a website of some sort - Paula's collection on Marcus Fabrics, Red Crinoline Quilts or the website I was writing about.

So what do you think about our new site - isn't it pretty!!!!!  Thank you Heather Lynn (she is Gloria Parsons very talented daughter and also part of the design team of Olde Green Cupboard Designs) - we love it !!!  It's beautiful!!!!  Now that you're here, let's get busy.  I have so much to share with you today!!!  Where to start, where to start??? Ah, the retreat!!

The retreat was fantastic - good friends, good food, great times and I actually accomplished some things!!!  I finished the new quilt from Paula's new collection - Bordeaux and Sienna from Marcus Fabrics.  The quilting is already finished (thank you Cathy Peters of Longarm Quilting by Lynn Graham) and it's on its way for its"glamour" shot!!! Now it needs a name and a story and then it will be introduced at Fall Market - we will have kits on our website. I finished The Stacked Coins baby quilt (I forgot to take a picture, but I will when it comes back from the quilters) and completed a couple of other projects.  Check out these cool wristlets I made with some of the Hampton Ridge fabric and the wonderful teaching skills of my dear friend Lynn Rogers.  Thank you Lynn for your patience and your great sense of humor!!!!  The pattern is Lollipop Bags from Atkinson Designs.  

While I was gone Paula sent me fabric for a "re-do" of Arlington using some fabric from her Summit Rose collection from Marcus Fabrics.  I love piecing Arlington - 5 big pieced blocks, some big set-in side triangles, inner border, wide outer border and you're done!!!!  3" finished Spinning Stars for the blocks too!!!  We used the light grey and the border stripe from Summit Rose and the 2 black fabrics are from Paula Barnes Companions.  This one is heading off today to Crooked Creek Quilts for some gorgeous custom quilting!!!

Biggest news - we just added the new Sarah Emma kit to the website.  Click on the link and it will take you directly to our website where you can order your kit.  For this re-do, we used Paula's Townhouse Gardens collection from Marcus Fabrics.  This one in blues is so different from the original in browns and pinks.  I also love the story of Sarah Emma Edmonds, who enlisted in the Union Army as a man, Franklin Thompson.  In the Army, Emma, as Private Thompson served as a male nurse with the hospital unit of the 2nd Michigan Volunteers.  "Frank Thompson" later volunteered and served as spy for General McClellan.  Her book, Nurse and Spy in the Union Army, is a colorful account of her experiences. 

Now I'm working on a "re-do" of Savannah in Summit Rose and waiting for the fabric for a "re-do" of Harpers Ferry.  We're gearing up for Fall Market and Festival, so it's going to get really busy around here, but I wouldn't have it any other way!!!

Until next time, happy quilting,
Mary Ellen