Among the BEST of the BEST! (& a giveaway!)

Quiltmaker magazine just released a brand new collection of Reader Favorites, a special collector's edition of 22 patterns selected from the past 33 years of publications.  Including this sweet little baby!  

Originally published in Quiltmaker May/June 2014 (& featured on the cover), my little Sheep Shape quilt pattern makes a new appearance as one of Quiltmaker's top 5 reader favorite kids' quilts, amazing!

A new arrival, prize-winners, a little music; other random stuff.

Our family is growing!  We are thrilled to announce our new arrival!  Meet "MO"!

photo courtesy of Sue McCarty

Little "Mo", as his previous owner called him, has arrived and we are busy setting him up in the studio, complete with his Statler computerized system.  I'll need to familiarize myself with all his bells, buttons and whistles, (and hundreds of pre-loaded patterns) then we'll get busy after the holidays.  My husband and daughters at home will also be learning to operate little Mo, too!  So stinkin' excited!!  Meanwhile, Bertha is still busy stitching up custom quilts - one more to go before Christmas.

~~~

And, Congratulations to my winners from three recent blog hops, whew!!

Kathy won a pattern bundle sponsored by Jacquelynne Steves on the "Sew Sweet Simplicity" hop.  Such darling patterns!  Love those cheery cherries.  Next week will feature a new block and a new pattern bundle giveaway.

Vicki won a copy of the Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks vol 10, plus a happy little stack of charm squares and supplies to make my "Spring" quilt block featured in the magazine.  The applique' pieces are cut with my AccuQuilt cutting system.

Robin won a little Cardinal pincushion/ornament #littlebirdiepincushion from my "Twas the Night..." hop with the SewWeQuilt online guild.

And did you notice?  Her name is ROBIN!!  OK, so I couldn't resist making this one for her as well.  

Want to make your own Little Birdie pincushion?  

Here's the link → Little Birdie FREE Tutorial

For the robin, I pieced the head strip and used the same print for the rest.

For the Cardinal ornament, I used a black pigma pen to color in around the beak, 

then I used a large needle to add a ribbon through the seam for hanging.

Then I made a few more.  You know, for Christmas. 

~~~

And if that weren't enough excitement for one post, it was concert week last week!  I sing in the biggest backup group in the world, and it was such a delightful week as we sang with our guest artist Santino Fontana (voice of Prince Hans from Frozen, and a darling!), along with the Muppets!  That's right, from Sesame Street!  Big Bird, the Count, Grover, Bert & Ernie, Rosita, a new-to-me little sweetie--Abby Cadabby, and of course, my favorite little Elmo!  Here's a highlight:

2014 Christ2014 Christmas Concert highlights

It was a great concert! ♫♪ Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street? ♫♪ ♥♥♥

Quilty Pleasures & Giveaways!

Sew exciting!!  Quiltmaker magazine is hosting a GIVEAWAY in honor of my little quilt on the cover of their May/June '14 issue.

Had a nice online chat with Diane Harris, Quiltmaker's Interactive Editor, who had a few questions about my quilting journey.  Poor thing, she may have gotten more than she bargained for!  I appreciated the opportunity to write it all down, though, and had some fun and shed some tears as I thought of what quilting means to me and my family.  You can see Part I at "Quilty Pleasures HERE, and Part II HERE.

(I first met Diane at this EVENT at AccuQuilt's headquarters)

At any rate, it has been a marvelous month of March (National Quilting Day Week Month!!) - full of quilty delights and surprises. Inside I'm still jumping for joy!

Jumping on the bed...

Now, about that giveaway.  The package includes a 10" Hexie-Half ruler and a couple of piles of fat quarters from Riley Blake Designs, and the Quiltmaker May/June '14 magazine.  Hop over to Quilty Pleasures and leave a comment to be included in this great giveaway.

PLUS, I'll have a small giveaway here as well!  The package will include Quiltmaker magazine, a 5" Hexie-Half ruler, a small stack of RBD Fat Quarters, along with some other fun Spring/Easter tidbits and goodies! Leave a comment here for a chance at that giveaway too!  Did you celebrate National Quilting Day?  What (or who) got you started on your quilting journey?

 Both contests will close Friday, April 4th at midnight.  Winners will be announced next week.

Cover Girl... SHEEEEPISH.

The other night, I opened the mail and let out a big squeal - my husband came running in to see what was the matter....  Sorry, honey.  It was just an episode of Quilt-itis.  I had just received my advance copies of the May/June 2014 Quiltmaker magazine... with my little Hexie Sheep in the Meadow quilt ON THE COVER!!

While I knew my pattern would be in this issue, I had NO idea she would be a Cover Girl!

They call it "Sheep Shape"...

And I think it turned out to be such a cute baby quilt!  I'll be all ready for grandbabies when they come...

Such a simple quilt to make, using half-hexagons sewn in vertical rows; NO Y-seams! They rated it "Easy".  I used a Hexie-Half ruler by Lori Holt for Riley Blake Designs.  The fabrics are all Basics from Riley Blake.

The quilt also features my favorite dimensional folded hexagons I call HEXAGAMI for the flower centers, top-knot and eyeballs on the little sheep.  I happened to be demonstrating these Hexagami Make & Takes at the Riley Blake booth at Quilt Market last May when Quiltmaker editors Carolyn and Diane stopped by and saw how I was planning to use these as flower centers on my new "Hexie Meadow" quilt top.  They asked if I'd like to submit it to the magazine.  *Ü*  I said yes.

HEXAGAMI VIDEO

What a fun HEXAGONAL year it's been!  You can see all my hexie projects and adventures HERE.   Next, I'll be playing with new half-hexagon AccuQuilt dies... I see a class coming soon!

Look for your copy of Quiltmaker, on newsstands April 8th!  You can also purchase the magazine online or as a digital copy HERE.