Home Again, Home Again....

Be sure to read the previous post with pictures from quilt market.

Market was great as always. Here's my little booth- just around the corner from Benartex. To the left is a picture of Susan and her assistant Crystal. They work with me in designing fabric for Benartex. One of my fabric lines is being digitized for Bernina and I'm pretty excited about that. I'll post more on it later when it comes out.
I think it's time for a drawing... how about this little bundle of green fabrics from my A Cat for all Seasons line plus my Going Green in the Cabin pattern.
Email me this week by Saturday midnight at pgpeddler@aol.com.
Put GREEN in the subject line and add your name and mailing address in the body.
I'll choose a winner on Sunday and post the name here. Next week we'll draw for the gold fabrics from the line plus the What's All The Buzz? pattern.

To Market, To Market...

Here's some pictures of the Benartex booth with my new line of cat fabric. What amazes me is
that several different people got the panel and they all interpreted it in such different ways! Check these out...

They also made other projects with the panel
such as a chalkboard wall hanging using the
black chalkboard fabric. Look at the calendar wall hanging above with pockets for stuff. It was pretty neat seeing all of the projects in person.

This one was really pretty because the quilting was rounded and it almost didn't look like it was triangles. I suspect my buddy Linda did the quilting on these. She's so creative!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all of the dads out there. My dad passed away in 1977 but I still miss him sorely. He loved kids and I know he would so enjoy his five grand kids and great three grand kids. I'm the one in the middle of the picture with the skinned knees (1961). Notice the matching purple dresses.

We had another night of storms in the Midwest. We've had SOOO much rain- another 2" overnight alone. I wish we could shift it south to AZ, CO, OK, and TX where there are fires because of drought. This weather's a mess. I do think the excess rain has changed the Cicada noise situation though- they are all dead in heaps all over the ground now. I'm not sure if it was their time to go, they drowned, or just committed suicide due to excess rains, but they are much quieter these days.

I spent last night fine tuning a few quilts and today, after church and Father's Day festivities, I'm planning to piddle with quick fuse. Is piddle a word? LOL. I'm anxious to get the quilt tops done and see how they look. We're going fishing one of these days and I want to get set up to take some hand work with me for the down time. I still don't have any of my new fabric lines to use so I'll make these first quilts from stash.

I do know now that they are showing my two lines(#2 Fall and #3 Holiday) this Fall at the Intl. Quilt Market in Houston, so I should be able to post pictures by late summer/ Sept hopefully. Pretty exciting even though it seems to have taken forever from start to finish. The first line took about 2-1/2 years from start to sale. These two are taking 1-1/2 years. Shorter but still seems forever.

Winner? Do we have a winner? I had a lot of entries but can only pick one. The prize is a $50 gift certificate for patterns on my website. The winner is Colleen from New York. Congratulations Colleen. I'll do another drawing for a gift certificate soon.

I had a few comments on my daughter's jewelry- here's the latest that she added and here's link to her Etsy store. She is still donating 1/3 of every sale to the Joplin tornado cleanup through Operation Blessing. Her jewelry is beautiful.

http://tinyurl.com/4xndlwy

Have a great day.

What a Week!

It's late and I'm not sleeping yet (about 3 am.) I thought I'd take this opportunity to post since I've been so negligent on Blogging recently. The new patterns are pictured on the website at www.prairiegrovepeddler.com.

Houston Quilt Market & Festival were great but I'm so glad to be back home (and sleeping in my own bed). Two weeks away is a long time even though we spent most of it visiting old friends and my sister. Actually, visiting my sister is like going to a spa for a week. She has a beautiful home with all of the amenities of a great hotel. There's even a pool in the back yard if the weather is warm enough to enjoy it.

Last Thursday I had an outpatient surgery - it was uneventful for the most part and I slept for pretty much three full days afterwards. My only drawback is that I broke blood vessels in both eyes following surgery and I have to say that after 4 days, I still don't look very good with blood red and yellow eyeballs. It's kind of creepy actually! I feel very fortunate that things went as well as they did.

The good news, all orders have been shipped. The bad news, pattern #720 still is not ready. With all of the surgery stuff going on, I forgot to get the last project to my quilter Marilyn so it is not ready as of yet. Hopefully another week or so and I'll be shipping the rest of the orders for it.

This week, even though we're getting a late start, we'll have a drawing for the new 4 X 4's (all 4 of them).
Email me by this Saturday at midnight-
Put 4 x 4 in the title or subject line.
Include your name and full mailing address (to make shipping faster).

I'll draw two names on Sunday and post the names here on the Blog.
Possibly next week or the week after, we'll have a drawing for the new American Folk Art Series. I have to finish that last one first.

Quilt Market

Well, we made it down to Houston with the new patterns and finally got them on the website. There is 2 new series- one is American Folk Art, six patterns of projects that can also make a quilt. There's also a series called 4 X 4's, four new patterns- 4 designs X 4 projects in each pattern. There are more 4 X 4's to come each month for a while. They are simple and quick projects with quick fuse applique. Check them out when you get a chance at www.prairiegrovepeddler.com. I'll have a drawing on the new ones when I return. I've seen a lot of old friends, gotten a lot of hugs and seen some new things that I can't live without. Does life get any better? I think not! Have a great week!

What a Week!

I had so much fun this week. My husband's cousin Judy was in town all week and we did a lot of visiting and eating out. We also enjoyed a few good meals here along with pancakes and fruit smoothies. I know, they weren't on my diet, but I just had to cheat a little this week. I'll start back on the diet tomorrow. She's a grandma now and she made her first baby quilt one day while she was here and it turned out really sweet. I think she started about 4 pm and finished it around midnight. She went home yesterday.

Meanwhile, I'm back to Quilt 101 and trying to finish projects. My problem is that I start so many things and then have so many to finish. Quilt Market is about 5 weeks away and I'm determined to get all of these done by then.

The drawing was very interesting this week. This was the week to enter!

Everyone who went to the website and actually counted pumpkin patterns, whether correct or not, will receive a special package from me this week.

On last week's posting, I mentioned that if you went to the website and counted the pumpkin patterns, I would enter you twice. Turns out, the winner was entered twice. It is Trish from Canada. I'm also sending Trish a special treat, along with the quilt, for going to the trouble to count them! Congratulations Trish!

Wednesday Already?

Well, I can see this week is going to fly by. I got back from the Houston Quilt Market and Festival yesterday after 2 weeks away. Amazing how much business goes on without even being here! I have an enormous amount of orders yet to ship from market. Donna has been keeping up with most of what came in but I'll be helping today to get the rest out. It's a little before 5 a.m. and I'm ready to work! Motivation!

We are almost done with the Online Needlework Show orders. We'll send the last of them tomorrow. Winners for the drawings will be shipped the promised new charts tomorrow or Thursday. Everything should be on its way by Friday for sure. If you won one of the daily drawings, and didn't send in your mailing address, well, now would be a good time! I can't tell you what the two new charts are yet but the winners will find out in a few days. It's a secret! I'll post pictures here in a few weeks.

International Quilt Market

International Quilt Market in Houston, TX started today and there was a huge crowd when the doors opened. It looks well attended by the quilt shops. I know there is a lot of new items on display and a lot of excitement in the air. Tomorrow is a new day.

We had dinner a Houston's Restaurant tonight and saw a lot of other quilt show people eating there also. It's a favorite restaurant for everyone attending! Last night we ate at a Chinese buffet. This is so funny, there was an ice cream machine next to some desserts. Next to that was some dark brown sauce with a ladle. I thought it was chocolate sauce and honestly it looked exactly like chocolate sauce. It wasn't. Yuck. It was fish sauce. Only in a Chinese restaurant would they put fish sauce next to ice cream! We all had such a laugh! So ended my day!

Friday Morning Coffee

Well, it's 1:30 in the morning ~again and I'm still up drinking coffee. Seems I always have so much to do and I never quite catch up. Is there such a thing as catching up? I don't know.

Next week is Quilt Market & Festival in Houston and I have so much to do to get ready for it. The cross stitch show in St. Charles, MO was great but I had to leave a day early due to a funeral. Sorry if we missed you there. We had a family tragedy last week but everyone seems to be doing better these days.

I will release 2 more candle mats next week. They should be on the website by the end of next week before I leave for Houston. The Online Needlework Wholesale Show also starts next week. It's a busy time, that's for sure.

The leaves around here are starting to turn colors already. We are having cold and rainy weather, typical of Fall anyway. We'll be raking leaves before you know it!

Just a Few More

Here is another new candle mat. It's #48, Little Candle Mat-Stockings. It is the latest in the candle mat series to be released this week in St. Charles. The detail on it is really so sweet. Pictures just don't do it justice. I'll have two more candle mats in a few weeks for the Online Needlwork Show. They are fun, fast and just look so darn cute. They are all finished with wool from Weeks Dye Works.

I have a great new line of Pre-finished Stitchables. Introducing Stitcher's Wallets, Check Book Covers & Eye Glass Cases.

They are handmade in the USA. They come in 8 fun colors- red, blue, tan, brown, green, black, pink & purple.

The wallets have a zippered coin pouch and a magnetic snap. The check book covers have 2 pockets inside for your checks and register.

They each come with a cross stitch chart (shown) and finishing directions. The designs can be permanently attached or temporary so you can change them out with the seasons! I am so excited about these! They will be on the website soon.

I am finally getting everything ready for the show. I'm actually getting to bed at a decent time tonight, the first time in weeks. Good night!

Another Day, Another Chart or two

Two days and counting for the St. Charles Needlework Show. I thought I'd post a couple more pre-view pictures today. This is Little Candle Mat #46, Pumpkins. I have a lot of candle mats coming in the future. They are are so easy to finish.

This one is Little Candle Mat #47- Cardinals. It's one of my favorites. I do a lot of cardinals in quilts and cross stitch. Must be a Missouri thing. We have a lot of cardinals, especially hanging around every winter. I guess they show up so well against the snow. Watch for more pictures tomorrow.

It's 2:15 am. I'm headed to bed finally.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Wow, what a busy month but I finally have all the new charts finished, printed and ready for the St. Charles Needlework Show this weekend. It's 5:20 am and I'm still up working on changes to the website. They should be up in a few days.

I did a great little pumpkin pattern, called #44 Three Pumpkins, modeled after my best selling #163 Pumpkin Patch craft pattern from 1997 shown on my website. Three Pumpkins includes 3 different sized pumpkins. It's stitched on Weeks Dye Works Linen and really is quick and easy to finish. Finishing instructions are included in the chart.

I also did a line of little candle mats. Here is #45 Little Candle Mats- Leaves. So far I have 12 candle mat charts. Four of which will be released in St. Charles this weekend. I will post more pictures here over the new few days. I will have two more candle mats ready for the Online Needlework Show in October.

I have a new line of finished items for use with cross stitch, punchneedle, stitchery & wool embroidery. I will post pictures later this week. It's an exciting time here.

I'm headed to bed! Good night.

Almost Saturday

I just made another pot of coffee as I can see it will be a late night again in the studio. I have endured only 4 hours of sleep for the last 4 nights and it looks like tonight will probably end up the same way. I'm finally seeing the light at the end of the design tunnel though! I should get most of the new cross stitch designs back from the photographer tomorrow. I'm feeling a bit anxious these days as the St. Charles Needlework Show is fast approaching. It's two weeks from today in fact. I will post a few sneak peeks on here in the next couple of days. Hopefully they will be up on the website in another week.

We have a great new seasonal series of designs and will be releasing two more designs from the series each month after for a while. I also have a great line of finished products coming very soon. All made in the USA even! They will all debut at the St. Charles Needlework Wholesale Show.

There is a huge Online Needlework Show coming October 7-12 that we will be a part of. We'll post a link when it opens. Be sure to check it out. We will all be at the Houston Quilt Show at that same time. It will be interesting to see how well the two shows will work at the same time!

Another Busy Weekend

Well market is coming and I have been a busy girl getting things ready. I have the St. Charles Needlework market in 3 weeks. I have a lot of new charts for it and I can't wait to get them on my website. I'll try to take a picture of everything this week and post it here for a first look. Quilt Market is in October, along with the Online Needlework Show.

I did find time to put some finish on some more baskets this weekend. I have a lot more baskets to go, but I thought these turned out rather nice.

Internet Issues Today!

The Scavenger Hunt #4 went out late today due to no internet all day. The phone lines are still crossed and no internet yet tonight. I had to borrow internet from a friend to send the Scavenger Hunt 4 this evening. I got a lot of emails asking if they missed #4. Sorry it was so late today. Hopefully the phone company will get things fixed tomorrow. They worked on it today, only to cross the lines and make more of a mess.

This is the last week. The last drawing will be Friday. I'll post the winners here Friday morning, assuming the internet is working by then! Good Luck this week!

I just finished another new Cross Stitch design. Watch soon for a sneak peek of the new series to be released at the St Charles Needlework market in September. I'm also working on new quilts for Quilt Market in Houston In Oct. It's a busy time here.

Winners for Week 3 Scavenger Hunt

We have winners this morning! The Scavenger Hunt Winners for Week 3 are listed below. Please watch your email for the winning notification.
Congratulations to these winners-

For Cross Stitch:
Kathleen from KY was first
Bobbi from GA
Milly from CA
Brenda from VA

For Quilt:
Kay from WI was first
Kim from OH
Sheryl from CA
Lesa from IL

The winners will get an email asking for their address. We have one more week to go. The last set of questions will go out Monday morning.

Wee Hours of the Night

It's 1:00 a.m. and I just finished another cup of coffee. I'm still going through emails from everyone who entered the Scavenger Hunts today for Week 2. We've had a wonderful response and lots of nice comments. Thanks everyone!

I just successfully finished design #10 from my new cross stitch series. I will debut most of them at the Fall Needlework Market in St. Charles in September. I will save a couple of the designs for the Fall Online Needlework Show. It's going to be a busy month as I have Houston Quilt Market coming up in October also.

Oh, I just realized that it's passed midnight and today is my birthday. Wow, another year older, hopefully another year wiser! Seems the older I get, the later I stay up. I guess this grandma better hit the sack. Good night!