A Plethora of Mini-Quilts

My son Brett celebrated #38 yesterday.  Many years ago, when my three children were much younger - 12th grade, 9th grade and Kindergarten - we were traveling to a Winter Guard competition in Salem, MA. The older two each had a friend with them and for some reason my son (the 9th grader) and his friend Tim brought up the word "plethora" (I guess it was part of the vocabulary lesson for the week) and between the four of them, it became their goal to use the word in a sentence as often as they could.  They are all grown up now (41, 38, and 29), but that word has stuck with me and when I hear it, memories of that weekend road trip come flooding back.This post is dedicated to Brett, Tim, Megan and Sang. Thank you for making "plethora" one of my favorite words too!

A plethora of mini-quilts - yes indeed.  I seem to have been bitten by the mini-quilt bug and over the past month or so, I've been piecing mini-quilts.  Paula designed Heritage Stars for Spring Market - a fat quarter friendly quilt using her Heritage Reds collection - and we liked it so much that we decided to re-do it in fabrics from Paula's Peppery collection.  Both collections are from Marcus Fabrics and are available at your LQS. I am hard pressed to decide which one I like better! We are currently working on making up kits for both of these quilts and as soon as the patterns and kits are ready we will add them to our website! I will post here when they are available!

I love everything from Jeanne Horton and the Shop Girls from Country Sampler (Spring Green, WS), so of course I joined her Nickel and Dime Club earlier this year.  Our first project was this adorable heart quilt - Love, Love, Love.  I've now made two - one as a gift and one for me.  Can't wait for Valentine's Day to roll around again so I put this one on my table.

If you receive Jeanne's weekly newsletter, you know that she always has some adorable mini-quilt that one of the girls has pieced.  I fell in love with Kathleen's Doll Quilt (featuring fabrics from Betsy Chutchian's first collection Eliza's Indigos) and Valentine Star designed by Selma Bennett.  With Memorial Day and July 4th coming, I decided my table needed a new patriotic table runner, so I pieced Hometown USA designed by Suzanne Unbehaun.

Hometown US (left), Kathleen's Doll Quilt (top right), Valentine Star (bottom right)

I also seem to have been bitten by the Frivols bug!  It's amazing what happens at retreats - someone brings out their Frivols tin and the next thing you know we're all online and checking to see who has which Frivol and who wants which one - a shopping frenzy has begun.  I now have 7 of these little tins, but did manage to finish No. 5, Atelier, featuring Petite Prints Deux from French General.

My dear friend Pat has joined me as we venture down the mini-quilt rabbit hole and graciously quilts all these little beauties for me! I think it's time to do another quilt redecorating, maybe table tops this time or fill up that big galvanized bucket I bought!

Paula and I have been busy planning, designing and piecing.  She has a number of new collections in the works, so I'll be piecing some beautiful new quilts for Fall Market and Festival.  We're also working on quilts for book #2. Watch for posts with updates as the summer rolls along.

Until next time, happy quilting,
Mary Ellen

Pre-Market Busy-ness

It's always a little crazy right before Spring or Fall Market and this year is no exception. With two weddings to plan for this Spring, we decided that there would be no way we would be able to attend Spring Market and share new quilts. Wedding quilts, yes, new quilts, probably not. The weddings were our priority!! But as luck would have it, Paula did design 1 new line of fabric and she was asked to design a "fat-quarter friendly" quilt featuring a previous collection.

Timing is very important in fabric design. Once Paula designs and decides on the final fabrics for a collection, it has to go into production and that takes place overseas. Then we began the waiting game.  Paula has designed the quilt, but we are waiting for the fabric to arrive so I can start piecing. Luckily Marcus Fabrics was able to send us some yardage of Paula's new collection, Red Rose and Vine (yummy blacks and reds), so that became my focus for our mini-retreat.  And luckily Paula was there as I pieced the blocks.  Designing a quilt without the actual fabric can be a bit of a challenge and in this case Paula decided the design needed to be tweaked. I was able to piece all of the blocks at the retreat and actually pieced the majority of the top when I was back home and that's when we went back into a holding pattern. The large floral print wasn't quite ready, so it couldn't be shipped. The fabric arrived last Monday, the borders were added last Tuesday, it was on the longarm machine by Thursday afternoon and off to be bound by Friday evening.  It will be in Salt Lake City on Wednesday morning and hanging in the Marcus Fabrics booth by Wednesday afternoon.  Whew!! Old City Gates was truly an all-village effort!!!  Special thanks to Lynn Graham and Cathy Peters of Palm Tree Longarm Quilting and Linda Bowman for binding.

Now let me share a picture of this gorgeous collection, and part of the finished quilt top (remember, it is not quilted).  I haven't even seen it quilted yet! Red Rose and Vine will be debuting at Spring Market and should be in your local quilt stores in July.

Red Rose and Vine - reds, blacks, lights, stripes and large floral print - what's not to love!

Corner of Old City Gates - can't wait to see it quilted!

I also finished our "fat-quarter friendly" Heritage Stars that features Paula's Heritage Red collection.  Our dear friend and fellow retreater, Pat Meeks, graciously took it home with her for some tight stipple quilting.  I honestly don't know what we would do without these wonderful people!! 

Heritage Stars

Old City Gates and Heritage Stars patterns will be added to our website after Market.  We will also have kits for Heritage Stars in the Heritage Reds fabrics and in fabrics from Paula's Peppery collection.  That's next up on the piecing list!  

It should be a busy summer - Paula's brain seems to be in overdrive.  I talked with her today and she's designing and planning new collections and quilts for Fall Market and new quilts for our second book!  Yup, we're doing another one!!  I've already finished one quilt and another one just needs a border.  Paula is working on two new quilts and there are all sorts of designs floating around for more!

If you are attending Spring Market in Salt Lake City, be sure to visit the Marcus Fabrics booth, #2231.  Old City Gates and Heritage Stars will be displayed there.

Until next time, happy quilting,
Mary Ellen and Paula  

Mini-retreat fun

As is always the case with our retreats, we had a fantastic time at our mini-retreat in April. Paula was able to fly-in on Wednesday and we kicked off our long weekend with lunch with our dear friend Phyllis Anderson, author of Diamond Quilts.  We met Phyllis on the quilt show circuit and became fast friends.  Phyllis and her husband Bob live near Sarasota, so I get to see them pretty often.  I have to say that we are all looking pretty good in this picture!!

ME (actually having a good hair day), Phyllis and Paula

We always do a bunch of sewing at the retreat, but I wanted to share the other "fun" things that were going on. On Saturday, Gloria taught a group of six to make a basket.  It was pretty neat to watch and I have plans in my future to make a basket too.  I'm sure you will be wondering why Sara is wearing a large garbage bag while she makes her basket! She was wearing a brand new shirt and using dyed reed to make her basket and when she wet the reed it was starting to run on to her shirt.  Vicky came to rescue and made her a plastic smock! Thank you Vicky!

Gloria and Paula - looking very serious

Gloria, Sara and Tami (Sara's daughter)

Paula and her completed basket.  She stained it when she got back home.

Sunday found Vicky, Paula and I making a last minute run to Rachel's Farmhouse for some much needed items.  Thank you Cindy for staying open for us!!  Paula found 2 great antique quilts, Vicky bought some fabric, but I think I had the most fun - a big galvanized bucket and a beautiful wooden bench found their way home with me.  I've been lamenting the fact that I have run out of places to put quilts and have been forced to store some in a closet.  My new purchases have helped.  Prior to the retreat I asked Gloria if she had a basket to replace the one that I was currently storing quilts in, but was falling apart (bottom falling out!) and she came through for me.  We weren't home an hour and Paula already had the bench decorated and the basket full.  I also had just ordered a collapsible laundry basket, so it was quickly filled up.  Only the bucket remains empty, but it just needs a good cleaning before it is put to work.  The closet should be empty again soon!!

Oh yeah, we had fun!

My "new" old basket from Gloria

My new bench

Collapsible laundry basket filled with quilts

These ladies are all part of our exchanges, so this time we had a couple of completed Star Block exchange quilts.  Congrats to Sara and Anjie for finishing theirs.  I love how the quilts look so different with the different alternate block and sashing colors. Mine is on my bucket list, but I did manage to finish my Churn Dash exchange quilt this Spring.

Sara and Anjie and their quilts

 I worked on quilts for Spring Market, which I will share in the next post in just another day or two!

Until next time,
Happy quilting,
Mary Ellen and Paula

 

 

 

Celebrations

Yes, we really are alive and yes it has been quite a few months since I last blogged, but trust me we have reasons and the title of today's post will explain it all! So many things have happened since I last posted and they are all related to celebrations, so let's get started.

Celebration #1 - Paula's mom Shirley was very ill just before Christmas and that consumed pretty much all of Paula's time.  Shirley is home again and we are all so glad.  Motivation was a big factor in her recovery and recuperation (and doctors and medicine too) and that involves our next celebration.

Celebration #2 - Amy's wedding.  Paula's youngest daughter was married on March 5th and Shirley's goal was to get home and be able to attend that wedding.  Shirley was absolutely radiant as she walked down the aisle on a groomsman's arm. Details and pictures to follow. Never one to be left out, our next celebration involves my daughter.

Celebration #3 - Megan's wedding.  My oldest daughter was married on April 9th (yup, last Saturday). Details and pictures to follow. Both of these weddings have kept us pretty busy and also very happy, so we decided we wanted to share our happiness with all of you.  The next celebration is for our loyal customers.

Celebration #4 - WE'RE HAVING A SALE!!!  Details to follow also.

I promised details and pictures, so let's start with Amy's wedding.  Amy and Alex were married in a beautiful ceremony in the TCU Chapel, with a reception to follow at the City Club of Fort Worth. The bride was radiant and Paula outdid herself with floral arrangements, bouquets, and embroidered pillows and table runners for the reception. Paula also remade our Bonnie Blue pattern in scrappy blues and lights as their wedding present.
 

Paula and Amy

Shirley - Paula's mom

Paula's grandchildren - John and Sophie

The happy couple - Mr and Mrs Alex Green

Alex and Amy and their wedding quilt.

Megan and Brian were married in a simple ceremony on Pass-A-Grille Beach in St. Pete Beach, FL and the reception/party followed at the St. Petersburg Country Club.  Both of these were places that Megan has visited since she was a baby. Thankfully the weather cooperated with beautiful sunshine, a light breeze and no humidity. I remade our Second Hand Clothes pattern in William Morris fabrics as their wedding present.
 

Megan and I at the reception

The happy couple - Mr and Mrs Brian Hulsman

My granddaughters - Sydney and Julianne

Brian and Megan and their wedding quilt. (That's Peter helping to hold it up.)

All of this planning and celebrating has kept us both very busy, so needless to say we don't have too much new for the upcoming Spring Market. I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of fabric from Paula's newest collection, Red Bird and Vine, so I can get started on the quilt Paula has designed.  I'll share some pictures as soon as the fabric arrives. I'm currently piecing a small quilt that will be "fat-quarter friendly" with Paula's Heritage Red collection.

Now on to Celebration #4 - our sale.  Everything on our website is 25% off.  Please enter coupon code LOVE25 when you checkout to receive your discount.  The sale will continue through Sunday, April 17th.  Shop early for the best selection.

Paula and I were each able to attend the other one's celebration, but that certainly wasn't enough time for us to visit and plan, so we will be getting together next week for a mini-retreat with some our friends.  Let the planning begin - new quilts, new book, who knows what else!

Roxanne, Paula and ME - having fun at Amy's wedding! Just call us the Party Girls!

Until next time, happy quilting,
Mary Ellen

 

 

Post-Houston and Pre-Holidays

Yes, we survived International Quilt Market and Festival and now we are both getting ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Can't believe the year has gone by so quickly!!

I'm sure many of you have already heard about the "challenges" we all faced at Market and Festival this year - possible hurricane, flooded streets in and around Houston, bad weather all around us and the street and front of the George R. Brown Convention Center totally under construction - at times it seemed like a nightmare!  But when all is said and done, we fared quite well.  Our latest quilts and Block of the Month were well-received and the book was a huge success. I did manage to take a couple of pictures of the Market booth (it didn't change much for Festival) and I will share the picture of our fans waiting on line for our book signing.  Now that was really exciting!!!

This picture with the ladies waiting for the book signing makes me smile - my new BFF is there, our friends from Australia (hi Karen and Linda), and Jeanne from SupplyLine!  This was a great group of ladies and we enjoyed visiting with them while we waited for the "official" book signing time!  Pati (from Marcus Fabrics) even took some pictures as we signed the books.  That's Michelle Joyner from Fat Quarters Quilt Shop in Vista, CA in the first picture and my new BFF in the second picture. Marcus Fabrics hosted our book signing and all in all it was pretty exciting!  We even bought new pens for it!!
 

Paula has been working to get all of our Market orders out and to get all of the new patterns and kits on the website.  Now is your chance to purchase these great new patterns and the kits.  Remember our kits feature the same fabrics that you see in the quilt sample.  Click on the quilt name for a link directly to our website for ordering.

Paula had a number of new collections with Marcus Fabrics out this year for both Spring and Fall Market, so let's start with the newest collections and quilts:
Laura's Quilt features her Carolina Blues collections - yummy blues and yellows - and measures 76"x102". This may be my personal favorite!

Banks' Retreat is made from the Heritage Reds collection and it measures 92"x92".  Who doesn't love a red and white quilt!

Wilderness Road is this year's scrappy quilt (72"x84") and it's just gorgeous too!

Gettysburg is a re-do quilt and this time it features some of the fabrics from the Latimer Farms collection.  Great alternative for those of you that love the Latimer Farms fabric, but don't want to tackle a Block of the Month program.

Pemberton is a smaller quilt and it features reds, blacks and caramels from some of Paula's previous collections.

Davenport features the golds, purples and blacks of the Davenport Gardens collection.  While actually a Spring Market quilt, we finally have the kits!! This could be tied for my favorite quilt.

Latimer Farms BOM - 101"x101"

We have also decided to sell complete kits for our Latimer Farms BOM.  Right now we are just taking pre-orders, but here are the details:
    - complete kit - quilt top and binding
    - $350 with free shipping (If purchased monthly, it would be about $28.00/month plus shipping)
    - January 2016 shipping
    - 108" wide backing available
If you are interested, please email me at: maryellen@redcrinolinequilts.com  with your name and phone number.  I will contact you prior to shipping for your address and credit card information.

I thought I would share our picture with the biggest book cover I've ever seen.  This was hanging at the Schoolhouse session we did with Martingale Publishing at Market and then in the Martingale Publishing booth.

As I read other blogs, Facebook and Instagram I see that many of you are fully enjoying Fall and many even the beginning of Winter.  Florida has had some record warm temperatures for November, but I'll be heading to upstate NY for Thanksgiving.  I'm looking forward to some good family time with my son, daughter-in-law, granddaughters and youngest daughter and apparently some much cooler weather!  I visited my oldest daughter in Louisville right after Festival and got to enjoy some of my favorite foods: duck fat popcorn, queso and margaritas, and garlic butter bread sticks!  I even tailgated at the U of L/Syracuse football game at the coolest tailgate bus I've ever seen.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone and until next time,

Happy quilting,
Mary Ellen and Paula

THANK YOU

I just took a moment to cruise through and read the comments that were left on Marcus Mentions (Marcus Fabrics blog) and Stitch This (Martingale Publishing blog) about our new book, Tributes and Treasures, and all I can say is THANK YOU!!!  If it was up to me, everyone would win a book and a fabric bundle.  Your comments were all so kind and complimentary.  If you are looking for us at Festival, we'll be the ones with the swelled heads!! I often have to stop and pinch myself because I can't believe that we reached a point in this business where we were asked to write a book AND that people want to own it!!! Thank you again and if you are attending International Quilt Market or Festival, we are booth #1033 - stop by and say hello.

My plan for this post was to share pictures from our Camp Blanding retreat in September.  Paula and I had a great time - 5 days of good friends, good food and good fabric!!  There are usually 100+ ladies in attendance and they are grouped by friendship - bees, guilds, neighbors, family, etc - and it's great to walk around and see what everyone is creating and eating!  We have a great group that we sit with and they were very productive this time.  This is also the same group that we do our yearly exchanges with and some of the girls have even finished some of the exchange quilts (personally that's a topic I don't care to discuss, but some day I will join this group!!)

Diane and Wynette are both on a roll with the exchange quilts (we're just exchanged our 3rd set of blocks).  Diane shared her Snowball quilt that she worked on between our August and September retreats.  AND then she went ahead and put together her Churn Dash quilt at this retreat.  There are a lot of the Churn Dash quilts completed, so I went ahead and added that to my post-Market list of personal sewing items!

Diane's Snowball quilt

Diane's Churn Dash - just needs borders now!

Wynette had already completed her Snowball quilt and may even be part of the group with a Churn Dash quilt, but this time she has outdone herself.  We exchanged our Star Blocks on Saturday night and she had her top put together by the next weekend!! Way to go Wynette!! This weekend she finished up her Glory Bound quilt from our cruise.  Wynette loves a big quilt, so she added 3 borders to hers - LOVE IT!!

Wynette's Star Block exchange quilt. Love it on point!!

Wynette's Glory Bound with borders

Ronda drove over with Paula from Texas and she was a busy girl.  She brings lots of projects and gets a lot done on them.  The only picture I was able to get was of her 1930's Arkansas Crossroads.  This was an exchange group from Texas.  

You get to see a lot just sitting in your spot and I watched as Diane F. finished up these great Fall houses and campers. A lot of work went into these blocks!

Gloria's daughter Heather creates these beautiful mohair and painted fabric animals. I could sit and watch her for hours.  She designs the animals herself and then cuts, sew, stuffs, and accessorizes each one. She was making owls, foxes, baby chicks and corn this weekend and I just had to have one of her owls.  She names all of the animals, but I knew this little guy had to be called Hootie.  I'm still looking for the Blowfish!!

Can you find Hootie watching over me on my return trip?

It seems September is a good time for retreats.  Debbie from Texas finished her version of Bonnie Blue at a retreat. She started the quilt at a workshop Paula taught for the West Houston Quilt Guild.  It's always so nice to see someone else's  interpretation of our patterns.  Great job, Debbie.  If you look carefully in the bottom left hand corner of the picture, I think you can see another Bonnie Blue in the works.

The Latimer Farms shop kits have been shipped to local quilt stores and hopefully you should start seeing blocks and/or the actual quilt appearing in a shop near you soon.  Marcus Fabrics had a great ad for Latimer Farms in the Dec 2015 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting.  It's always a little shocking to turn the pages of a magazine and all of a sudden see a picture of yourself!  I remember when this one was taken  - I made sure my hair was looking good, I had on makeup and nice clothes!!!

We're wrapping up the last few things for Market.  The quilts are all done and currently enjoying their glamour shots.  These will be used on our pattern covers and in our brochure. I fly to Houston on Tuesday and help with any last minute kit preparation and then it's off to downtown Houston and set up in the George R Brown Convention Center on Thursday!!  I will post one last time before Market and Festival with pictures of our new quilts and kits.  They will all be added to our website after Festival.

Until next time, happy quilting,
Mary Ellen
 

Tributes and Treasures

It's been a crazy couple of weeks since retreat.  I'm finally on the last quilt for Market and it will be in the mail to the quilter by tomorrow morning (that's my plan and I'm sticking to it!)!!  All sorts of quilts, quilt tops and other handmade items were finished and shared at retreat and I fully intend to share them, but it's going to have to be in a couple of days.  Right now it's finish this last quilt!!!

Ok, so why am I taking the time to write this post?  Remember in my last post I mentioned that we were going to be the guest bloggers on the Martingale Publishing Co blog?  Well, today is the day!!!  Click on this link and it will take you directly to the blog post: Stitch This!  If you would like to win a bundle of Paula's fabrics (you know you want too!!), leave a comment on the post in Marcus Mentions (Marcus Fabrics blog). We're everywhere today!!!

And just to complete the excitement, Tributes and Treasures is now available on our website!!! (Because we knew we would not be in the same state to sign these books, we signed book plates that Martingale designed for us while we were at retreat and an autographed book plate will be sent with each copy.) The books will be arriving today (thank you UPS) and Paula will begin shipping them out next week.  Why not Saturday?  It's Game Day Kit Cutting again!!  In addition to the books arriving, rumor has it that the fabric for 3 of the new patterns/kits that we will be introducing at Market and Festival will also be arriving - Bank's Retreat (Heritage Reds collection), Laura's Quilt (Carolina Blues collection) and Gettysburg (Latimer Farms collection).  It's going to be a busy day at the Barnes' house.  I just hope that the Georgia Bulldogs can win this weekend - I'm a little uncomfortable with Paula and a rotary cutter if they are losing - just saying!!  Go Dawgs!!! 

We will have autographed copies of Treasures and Tributes available in our booth (#1033) at International Quilt Festival-Houston (October 28-Preview Night and October 29-November 2). Stop by to pick up your copy and check out the new patterns and kits we will have available.

Paula and I would like to thank everyone for all the congratulations and kind words you've given us on our first go as authors.  Talk about a self-esteem booster. Thank you! And from me - a special thank you to my daughter Megan and her fiance Brian for the beautiful flowers they sent on Book Release Day.  You earned "favorite daughter status" on this one, Megan!! LOL!!

And now back to my regularly scheduled program - piecing!! I think I'll stop at JoAnn's on my way home from the Post Office and make sure Tributes and Treasures is at the front of the book rack!

Until next time, happy quilting,
Mary Ellen