Author Archives: Bernie

November Wrap Up

I have been thinking of all of you and keep thinking I should sit down and write a post. However, this week was spent entirely on making custom orders I received over the Thanksgiving weekend. This time of year always means lots of orders for Chemex and French Press cozies. I don’t mind making them but it certainly takes away from any time to quilt or make other fun items. Over the holiday weekend I had eight orders for these sorts of items and I finished up the last two yesterday. That means this weekend I get to work on other projects!

The other project I am currently working on is a Christmas gift and I don’t want to post it just in case the recipient should see the post (though the person is not a regular reader of my always-exciting blog posts!) Anyway, since I don’t have sewing to share, let’s just chat!

A big group but certainly not everyone.

How was Thanksgiving (for my US readers anyway)? Ours was pretty nice. Each year we alternate between what our family calls “Big Thanksgiving” and “Little Thanksgiving”. On the big years, my sisters and their children and grandchildren all come up here to have Thanksgiving at my parent’s house. The alternating years are quiet and each family celebrates at their own house with a smaller group. This year there were 38 people at mom and dad’s house. For us, that is a relatively ‘small’ crowd for Big Thanksgiving. The picture above was taken Friday morning with the people who came for breakfast. My parents are in the front row. Isn’t this a great picture – four generations amongst the people in the picture! I wasn’t there but it looks like it was a fun morning.

Me and my favorite guy.

As luck would have it, I was dealing with lots of migraine activity that weekend so I didn’t participate nearly as much as I would have liked. Ray and I made a second turkey at our house because my mother was nervous one turkey wouldn’t be enough. So we had a quiet afternoon and then met everyone up at Mom’s house for dinner, bringing the second turkey, stuffing and gravy. It was sort of an eat and run thing for us. When all those kids are there, it gets loud and I wasn’t really up for a lot of noise. Food was great and Mom needn’t have worried because there was enough for everyone and tons of leftovers!

Playing Sequence with Ian, Shar and Julia. Do you play that game??

My son and his new wife were at our house for the whole weekend which was so nice.

This guy can bake!

There were lazy mornings, lots of coffee and cinnamon rolls courtesy of my husband! They were so good and it was no time before they were all gone. I love this recipe from Lovely Little Kitchen because you make the rolls, refrigerate overnight and take them out for an hour in the morning before baking. Easy and so yummy.

His happy place.

My husband spent much of the weekend in his shop. He was on a tear, making rolling pins. Last year he made them for our kids and his mom for Christmas gifts. This year he made them because I asked him to! I had a lot of really nice comments on them last year when I posted about them. I thought it would be fun if he made a few pretty ones and we made them available for purchase as holiday gifts! So, he made four and they are stunning.

He collects wood like I stash fabric.

Ray has enough wood to make nine billion rolling pins but who am I to say anything? I could probably make as many quilts with what I have in my sewing room. So let’s just not go there, ok?

Rectangles of oak and walnut laminated and ready for the lathe.

Sort of like strip piecing, Ray glues strips of wood together in various widths and clamps it tight. Once it is dry, he puts it on the lathe and starts carving it. Chips fly and it is noisy but when all that is going on, my husband is one happy guy.

The very beginning, it is just starting to round.

It takes quite a bit of time to shape it, sand it and finish it. But the results are lovely. Take a look.

So smooth and glossy.

They look similar to each other but the subtle differences are there. Each one is solid, no bearings in the handles (meaning the handles don’t turn or swivel).

One of my favorites because of the light and dark contrast.

This one has some maple in it which gives great contrast with the walnut. Each one has a ‘work space’ of about ten inches.

Love the ovals of color on the handles.

Pretty stripes!

So pretty! What do you think?

This morning I am posting these on Instagram for sale. If you are interested, hop over there and grab one. There are just the four. I think they make a lovely and unique homemade gift. Pricing is $75 plus shipping. Feel free to leave any questions in the comments.

Hopefully next week I will have a sewing project or two to share. Well, actually I am to entirely sure – it depends on if I am working on secret gift sewing or other projects. Hope you all have a fantastic weekend. We plan to get our tree and hope to get the lights up outside. This is such a fun time of year.

Black Friday Sale This Weekend!!

Twisted Quilt is Finished!

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I haven’t finished a quilt for such a long time. This one feels great! Partly because I started it in June, 2017 so it has been around for a while. But also in part because I am donating it to the Mercyful Quilt drive that I have been hosting over these past weeks.

Surely I am not alone in the feeling of intention that comes along when making a quilt for a specific purpose. When I began making this quilt, I chose it because I love the Twisted pattern, the lattice look of it. I was happy because I mainly used scrappy bits that I had in my stash. It was just a nice project. However as I began quilting it, I knew it would be a nice piece to donate to the Palliative Care unit at Mercy Hospital. Once I decided to donate it, my mind constantly wandered, thinking about the purpose of this particular quilt.

I chose to use a grid pattern for the open sections within the lattice. This was a bit time consuming. I did mark the lines with a Frixion pen – though they still have some wobble to them. But I wanted them to be as straight and uniform as I could get them. I marked and quilted a one inch grid on each spot. This gave me plenty of time to think while I quilted.

As my mind wandered, I found myself thinking about the family who might choose my quilt for their special family member who was actively in the dying process. I do not hold any grand illusion that because they have this quilt in hand, the process becomes easy. I have been there. I know that whether given one, or twenty five, handmade quilts, the process doesn’t become easier. But it is something. It might reduce the sterility of the hospital room a tiny bit. Maybe taking the quilt home will bring comfort to the family as they grieve. It gave me great satisfaction to think that maybe by donating this quilt, I am bringing a little bit of solace to the family as well as comfort to the person who died.

Modern, bright florals on the front and soft roses on the back. So sweet.

Since starting this quilt drive, I have received so many comments that compliment the staff who support patients as they die. Many of us feel the same – that this is such a special calling and certainly a very difficult job much of the time. Collectively we are grateful for these angels who are able to provide care for patient and family at this time of life. Personally, when I think of someone dying, I almost always find myself remembering when my first husband died. It is only natural I suppose; this was a huge, life altering event in my, and my childrens’, life. He died in 1994 after experiencing an aneurysm in his brain stem. He was flown to a trauma care hospital and they took care of him (and me) for the next two days.

This was such a stressful, terrifying time in my life. I was only 33 and he was 36. We had three young children. I spent that weekend in a shocked, fearful state of mind. The staff there were amazing. Mark had a nurse that spent about 36 hours with him, without going home. She just stayed with both of us. I remember asking her how she could do this job. I asked her why she stayed so long, and how many of her patients actually survived. She sat with me and explained she felt honored to care for him and me both as we faced this change. She told me that less than 20% of her patients survived. But she felt called to do this work. She told me that most of the nursing staff don’t last a very long time in this type of work, but for the time she was able to, she wanted to do this type of nursing. She was an angel and while I can hardly remember her face, I do remember her words.

There was also a chaplain who came in and out quite a number of times to check on me. Memories of him are a bit of a blur but I know he was there and supportive. At a time like this, there are many decisions to make and having someone who wasn’t emotionally involved is so important. I am not sharing all of this as a call for pity. I am fine and my boys are fine. We will always miss Mark but memories of him have become a sweet part of our life. I am sharing it to describe how needed and comforting it was to have this team of people who deal with death on a daily basis and thus were able help me to deal with it. They helped me to make decisions when I was reeling with shock and grief. Mark wanted to be an organ donor and that process was somewhat involved. They told me what to expect next, why they were doing each process, what Mark might be experiencing as time went on. They were such a comfort at such a scary, sad time.

My Mercyful Quilt is backed with a soft vintage sheet.

So, making this quilt caused me to reflect. It gave me time to think about providing what we can to help people we will never meet. I thought about how being kind to a faceless person feels good. Quilting this piece made me realize how important it is to pay it forward. I received comfort from a team such as the one at Mercy Hospital. It is my turn to help the next person going through a difficult time.

Now this one is done so I can look forward to quilting the next one. I have two quilt tops in line to work on. I have a few holiday projects in process but I think it is ok to work on those first and then tackle the next Mercyful quilt.

Mercyful Quilts – destined to bring comfort to others.

Look at the stack that is waiting to be picked up! I believe we are at twenty quilts so far and more are on the way. My gratitude intention for Thanksgiving this year is easy. I am over the top grateful for each of you and the amazing, gorgeous quilts you are sending to me for Mercy Hospital. Quilts have arrived from Texas, Arizona, Louisiana, Massachusetts and all over California. AMAZING!! I hope you will continue to feel a desire to work on this drive. Share it with your quilting groups, post about it on your blog or Instagram feed and tag it #Mercyfulquilts. The need is ongoing. If you cannot contribute a quilt, you may want to make a couple of blocks for Covered in Love. This program serves the same need at a hospital in Texas.

Wishing all of you a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.

Linking this finish up at a few fun places. Check them out at the top of the page, under Link Ups.

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Mercyful Quilts Update

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Today is National Kindness day. What better day to write an update about the Mercyful Quilts project?

On Monday of this week I had the pleasure of watching my friend Patty pick up the first batch of Mercyful Quilts. It was a lovely thing to watch her oooh and ahhh over each and every quilt in the stack. She and her colleagues are thrilled to have these quilts and to know that more are on the way.

Patty and I with a quilt designed and made by Yvonne Fuchs.

While she was here, we talked about the ways that the team at Mercy Hospital supports their patients and the patient’s family while they say good bye to each other. Mercy Hospital in Sacramento, CA has a large, specialized Oncology Center and Cardiac Center as well as their Surgical ICU unit. As such, they regularly support patients who are in the process of dying. I commend these nurses and social workers for providing loving comfort to their patients and families as they go through the dying process.

The quilt drawer on a Comfort Cart at Mercy Hospital.

Patty explained they have Comfort Carts which are used by their Palliative Care team. Two doctors, a nurse, a social worker and a chaplain make up this team. Palliative care is defined by the World Health Organization as follows:

provides relief from pain and other distressing symptoms;
affirms life and regards dying as a normal process;
intends neither to hasten or postpone death;
integrates the psychological and spiritual aspects of patient care;
offers a support system to help patients live as actively as possible until death;
offers a support system to help the family cope during the patients illness and in their own bereavement;
uses a team approach to address the needs of patients and their families, including bereavement counseling, if indicated.

The Palliative Care team at Mercy Hospital are the people who decide what sorts of items would be most helpful to the families and keep the comfort carts full. These carts might contain religious items such as spiritual reading material in a variety of denominations and rosaries, flameless candles, CD players with music, scented lotions, pamphlets and information on the dying process, Mercyful quilts and some pillowcases. They also have hand casting kits available as some families want to make one to take home with them. The team works with the family and patient to provide kindness, comfort and support to make the dying process as peaceful as possible.

Staff at Mercy Hospital are so grateful for your gorgeous quilts.

In the photo above, from left to right, is Lori M., palliative care nurse, Candy K., Nurse Manager for the ICUs, Patty J (my friend and a nurse on the Surgical ICU unit), and Emma C., social worker for Palliative Care. This team is very appreciative of the quilts being donated to their hospital. As for me, I am in awe of the comfort these professionals provide at a time when it is most needed.

While Patty was here I asked whether there were any special needs she knew of with regard to the quilts we are making. She asked that if possible, we make a few quilts with colors or fabrics which might appeal to men. Also, if possible, it would be great to have some patriotic quilts which would be meaningful to veterans of our country. I think both of these are great ideas. So far, we do have a number of ‘gender neutral’ quilts but a few leaning to a male design or color palette would be great. I have not yet made a Quilt of Valor but this is a great opportunity for me to do so. It is on my list and will be started after the holidays. Have you made a QOV? Would you like to donate one to this group? If so, I am happy to facilitate that for you!

Thank you so much to all who have sent quilts, or are making and sending quilts now. Your kindness is greatly needed and very much appreciated by the team and patients at Mercy Hospital. Leave any questions in the comments and I will be back in touch as soon as possible.

Blogger Bundle Winner!

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Good morning all! I want to thank you for entering the giveaway for the November Blogger Bundle! The winner this month is Gloria C. Hurray for winning Gloria; a package of purple, yellow and blue pretties are in the mail for you (well… they will be as soon as I know your address)! I am sending you an email separate from this post.

Thanks to Sandra for creating the bundle for November. It is just stunning. There are a few more available in the shop if you would like. Next month, be sure to come back on Tuesday, December 11th, for a fun event wrapping up the 2018 series of Blogger Bundles. I am really looking forward to it!

Have a great weekend all!

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Mercyful Quilts

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The quilts are arriving and I am overjoyed!!! I want to share the stack that have accumulated thus far. They will be picked up by my friend Patty in a few days to bring to Mercy Hospital and I want to journal this event on the blog before the quilts are gone. So far I have received thirteen quilts!! Amazing, right? Patty has been sharing the progress of this quilt drive with her co-workers at the hospital and they are stunned by the generosity of our community. It is very satisfying to call myself a part of this on-line quilting tribe. I couldn’t ask for a sweeter group of people to inspire me to be a kinder person and better quilter!

Axel’s Quilt, Pieced & Quilted by Preeti Harris

The quilt above was the very first quilt to arrive. This is Axel’s Quilt from Preeti who blogs at Sew Preeti Quilts and lives in Washington DC. Thank you Preeti!! Fantastic color, I love the combination of gray and yellow. This is a gorgeous quilt.

Three beauties, pieced and quilted by Shirley Bruner.

Above you see three gorgeous quilts. Each one was sent to me by my friend Shirley Bruner from Missouri. Her blog is called The World According to Me and she pieced and quilted each of these. The blue and green quilt in the middle is flannel backed making it extra cozy.

A few things of note – I love the outlined hummingbirds, they appear to be in flight and did you notice she constructed the flower baskets with selvages? Very creative!! Thank you so much Shirley!

Two colorful quilts, pieced and quilted by Adele, @bayougirlquilts

These two quilts came all the way from Metairie, Louisiana! Adele D. sent them to me. I don’t know Adele very well (yet!) but I did peek at her Flickr account, @bayougirlquilts and she is very talented!! There is so much color and lots of fun patterns to be seen on her page!! Both of these color combinations are wonderful. I love red with aqua and the green with cheddar yellow is so pretty!

Black, White & Brights, Pieced & Quilted by Sophia Day.

This bright, cheerful quilt was made by my friend Sophia. She used a black, white and brights combination to make this wonky triangle quilt. I love that she echo quilted some straight lines within each of the triangles. Sophia and I have been friends for over twenty years and belong to the same guild, of which she is president this year. Thank you Sophia!!

Jelly Roll Quilt Top, Pieced by Jill M.

Here is a quilt top that arrived from Jill M, a blog reader who splits her year between Canada and Arizona each year. She was about to leave on a month long trip and wanted to contribute so I told her I would finish the quilt for her. I will keep you posted on this one. It is a lovely jelly roll race quilt using stunning fabrics in jewel tones. I look forward to working on it! She even made a scrappy binding for it which is wonderful.

Blue Rain, Fletched, and You & Me; designed, pieced and quilted by Yvonne Fuch.

Finally, there are six quilts donated by Yvonne of Quilting Jetgirl This clean, modern style is uniquely her own. I posted a video yesterday on Facebook taken of me while I unboxed these beauties. If you missed it, click here! I was thrilled to see these in person after having read about many of them on her blog.

Pulsing Plus, Layered Diamonds; designed, pieced and quilted by Yvonne Fuch.

One of the quilts above was made by another quilter. Yvonne won it at a silent auction in support of a fundraiser that happened on Instagram last summer. This is the quilt is on the far right. (If one of Yvonne’s quilts intrigues you, I just want to let you know that the patterns for several of them are available in her shop.)

All of these quilts are spectacular and I know the nurses and patients at Mercy Hospital will be comforted by these gifts. These quilts will be taken to the hospital on Monday. Thank you so much for all who donated or are in the process of making a Mercyful Quilt. You are bringing comfort to a family when they need it most. When I talked with my friend Patty she estimated that they use 8 – 10 quilts each month. At this time, I have about 35 quilts promised for this drive so that means we are fulfilling the need for three to four months. Amazing!!! There are a few quilters who have said they would like to contribute more over time which is awesome.

I will share more of the Mercyful Quilts as they arrive. There is quite a bit of sharing going on over on Instagram. If you share your donations or your work in process for Mercy, please tag it #mercyfulquilts and tag me @needleandfoot so I can find it! Thanks everyone! Have a wonderful day and be sure to find time to enjoy a bit of stitching.

Last but not least, have you entered the giveaway that is happening for the November Blogger Bundle? If you are in the US, please click here to enter. For international readers, head on over to Sandra’s blog to enter!

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November Blogger Bundle – Sandra Walker, MMM! Quilts

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Good morning everyone! You are in for such a treat today. I am so excited to share the November Blogger Bundle with you. This is the eleventh and final bundle for the year. In a grand finale sort of way, this bundle has it all. Saturated jewel tones, florals and plaids, the magic of BariJ and the sweet fantasy of Bethan Janine. But I am wayyyy ahead of myself. First let’s meet the curator of this very special collection.

Sandra Walker is the blogger behind, Musings of a Menopausal Melon, or MMM! Quilts. I remember specifically clicking through to her blog after seeing the title somewhere in this blogging world (how could I not, with a title like that!?!) I also remember she and I mentioning we were the same age (basically?) and both newly retired and trying out this blogging thing. It is one of those things where you chat with someone and just hit off right away. A few things I love about Sandra – her energy appears to be boundless, she is genuine and I can say this without ever having met her in person. But her blog posts are the real deal. Sandra is passionate and sometimes feels the hurts in the world almost too intensely. She is a wife, former teacher, mom and grandma to a sweet little guy as well as blogger, quilter, pattern designer and Island Batik Ambassador – Yikes!!!. She is into yoga and will share a blog post describing a good pose or stretch now and then. I love those posts. She has been designing patterns for a while now and has them available on both Etsy and Craftsy. Also, Sandra has hosted some really popular quilt alongs – you can see the patterns if you click here.

The November Blogger Bundle.

Back to the bundle now! By starting with the two pieces from Virtuosa by BariJ, Sandra developed a dramatic feel with this bundle. She then added the mustard yellow piece from Boho Meadow by Bethan Janine which was really interesting to me. The BariJ fabrics are so feminine and there is a definite boho southwest vibe to the dark yellow piece. But you know what? It works. The yellow now popped on the Cinese Mystery floral and those bits of turquoise in the Boho Meadow fabric became that much brighter! Pulling in the plum and the sandy off-white tone on tones was an easy move after that. It was the blue that was challenging. Sandra looked at many blue pieces in the shop and when the blue plaid was suggested, we both knew it was perfect. It has just the right dark and light blue hues to work with both the BariJ prints. Such a great bundle!!

Two bundles to give away to two lucky readers!!!

Sandra made a pretty tote with her bundle. Be sure you hop over to her blog and check it out. I just love it. Also, this month there are two bundle giveaways!! Because Sandra lives in Canada, she is hosting a giveaway for Canadian readers. I am hosting a giveaway for US readers. I apologize to the rest of my readers – if only postage wasn’t so expensive. :-(. So – Canadian readers, please be sure to go enter Sandra’s giveaway for a bundle of fat quarters!

This beauty is on sale through Friday! 20% off – Yahoo!

As with all of the other monthly bundles, this one is on sale for 20% off. Sale begins today and runs through the end of the day on Friday.

To enter the giveaway for US readers, please leave me a comment telling me how you might choose to use the bundle. Also, extra entries for followers – leave a SEPARATE comment telling me how you follow. You can follow me on Instagram and Facebook. Hope you will join the fun!

I have just love working with so many special bloggers creating these specially curated bundles. Please be sure to come back in December for a really fun event to celebrate all eleven blogger bundles! I promise it is going to be a lot of fun!

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Creating Mercyful Quilts

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About a week ago, I received a note from my friend Patty. She is a nurse at Mercy Hospital in Sacramento, CA. She is also the mother of a sweet girl that Julia has been friends with since middle school. Patty told me about the quilts they use at Mercy to comfort dying patients. They ask the family of the patient if they would like to wrap their loved one in a quilt to bring comfort and security as the person goes through the dying process. After the person passes away, the family keeps the quilt along with memories of comforting their loved one until the end. Unfortunately the community service group that was providing quilts for Mercy has become unable to do so. She wondered if I might know of quilters who would want to make quilts for the hospital. There are several organizations who do this sort of project; Covered in Love being a very popular one. I have contributed blocks once or twice for CIL and think their work is amazing. Becoming aware of a similar need right in my backyard was eye-opening.

In less than a blink of an eye, I replied to Patty telling her I am happy to help as much as I can. Hoping to finish a few quilts quickly, I decided to pull two WIPs and focus on finishing them. I had a box of large 10″ HST’s that I created about two years ago. I had intended to make a twin size quilt with them for the spare bed up in our little house in Downieville. Like so many projects, it was put aside and left unfinished. But I am glad this happened because there were enough blocks to make a comfortable lap-size quilt. I love the shades of purple, green and tan I used and feel it would be great for both male or female recipients.

I played around with the layout several times before deciding on this pattern. Once I made that decision, I spent a quick session squaring up the blocks. They went together in no time and I had a quilt top. It is very motivating to me to make a quilt for a cause that is so near and dear to my heart.

Mercy Hospital is renowned for their cardiac care. In 2015 my mother received incredible care at Mercy as she underwent a completely unexpected triple bypass and mitral valve replacement. She was in CCICU for two weeks and my family was (and still is) so very grateful for the care and support she received. Actually we all received care and support as they go the extra mile at Mercy to assure the patient’s family fully understands what is going on with their loved one. We always felt we could ask questions and get help at any time. It is no surprise to me that they have this quilt gifting program.

The Merriam-Webster definition of Mercy includes ‘compassionate care of those in distress’. So many of us have provided quilts for compassionate reasons, to help those in need or distress. I want to support this program at Mercy Hospital. Currently I have two quilts in process for them. The other quilt is my Twisted quilt top which is a cheerful floral quilt that looks much like lattice work in a garden. This project was already pin-basted and ready for quilting. Since I was further along with that project, I decided to begin quilting it several days ago. I am making swift progress with that one. I would love to have it finished and bound asap because they are out of quilts at this point in time. Once that is completed, I will baste and quilt this HST quilt.

If you feel called to support Mercy Hospital, I would love to hear from you. Do you have a quilt top that is not yet intended for anyone? Might you finish it up and mail it off? I would be happy to bring it to Mercy. California readers, local readers? Would you be able to help out? I plan to mention this at my guild meeting next week to see if there are others who might be able to contribute. If anyone has any ideas with regard to programs like this, please leave a comment. I would really like to gather support for Mercy Hospital and provide them with quilts.

I hope you all have a beautiful weekend! Be sure to grab a few minutes with your sewing machine. 🙂

Linking with Crazy Mom Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict! There links are at the top of the page, under Link Ups.

Bonjour Quilts and the Cost of Designing Patterns

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I have long been a follower of Kirsty Cleverly, owner, pattern designer, blogger at Bonjour Quilts. (And for a quilt pattern designer and maker, isn’t her last name just awesome???) I think I first found Kirsty a while ago when there was a movement called May is for Makers to support indie pattern designers. I remember I bought her Fleur pattern at that time (which I have yet to even use, sigh.) After that, I started to read her blog and eventually signed up for her newsletter. In return for signing up, she gave me a great pattern called When You Wish. I did make this one though! The pattern is now available in larger sizes and is called Color Explosion.

When You Wish baby quilt with my sweet great niece enjoying it!

Since then I purchased the larger version of the pattern and look forward to making it as a queen size.

OK – I am getting off topic. What I really want to talk about is this incredible post Kirsty recently wrote discussing the costs of bringing quilt patterns to print and then selling them – both privately, through quilt shops and through large scale distributors. Kirsty had posed a few questions in a recent newsletter, gathering information from her (13,000+) readers. I thought it was an interesting topic and as such, responded to her and we had a nice exchange about it. The resulting blog post is compelling. I love interacting with and supporting our indie pattern designers in the quilt community but have to say, I didn’t know the extent of the costs of running such a business. I really, really (!) hope you will click over and read Kirsty’s post as it applies to so many designers who provide both free and paid patterns. One aspect of the post that I was surprised by was the discussion around pricing PDF and print patterns at the same price. I suspect you will find it really interesting. Another part of the article I greatly appreciated was her list of suggested ways to support indie designers. There are ideas listed which are easily done.

Fleur, Triangle Twist, Go West, and Diamonds in the Deep, by Bonjour Quilts

As a small business owner, this article was very helpful to me. I carry a couple of Kirsty’s quilt patterns in my shop right now. I buy these patterns via a distributor because of the high shipping expense that I would incur if I bought from Kirsty directly (she lives in Australia). But I had not given thought to how this affects her revenue as a designer. Maybe someday the postage will work out such that I can buy from the designer but for now, it wouldn’t make sense. At this time, you will find Diamonds in the Deep and Triangle Twist available in the shop. In another week, I will also have Fleur (mini quilt version) and Go West. I am proud to carry Kirsty’s work as the aesthetic is wonderful, her quilts are not ones that will take forever to make, and the instructions are easily understood.

I am quite curious to hear your thoughts on her post. If you are a designer, do you have any thoughts to contribute that might not have been covered in this article? Let me know in the comments! Have a good weekend all.

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Happy Birthday Sale!

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Today I celebrate my 58th birthday – how that has come to be, I cannot explain. Isn’t time the strangest phenomenon? The older I get, the more quickly it buzzes by. When I was young I would wish for the next age or stage. In seventh grade my mother allowed us to begin shaving our legs and wearing panty hose. At 12 or 13 (?) we were allowed to get our ears pierced. Of course there is driving at 16, a very exciting rite of passage and voting at 18 (are we all voting in the upcoming election??). I married at 20 (to my first husband); graduated college at 21, had my babies at 24, 26, and 30. Married again at 37 and had baby number 4 at age 40. Now I just want it to SLOW DOWN!!!! But it doesn’t, does it?

So, today I am celebrating! It is the 25th of the month so I am holding a site-wide 25% off sale! Not only that, I would like to give a $25 gift certificate to my shop! Please leave me a comment with an age related memory. What comes to mind? I will draw a winner tomorrow morning!

Looking forward to this trip around the sun and feeling so fortunate that all of you are taking it with. me!!

Giveaway now closed. Congratulations Preeti!! You are the winner of the $25 gift certificate to the shop!! Hurray. Thank you everyone for the wonderful birthday wishes and great memories you all shared. They were so much fun to read!