Busy Little Bees....

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day, and are continuing to have a great weekend. We are all so busy around the forum this time of year. We have so many fun swaps going, plus our own creations for our home and family. By the end of the year, we'll all be happy for some rest! LOL

It's cool now, in my part of the world. The days have been sunny, but the evenings are cool enough for a fire. I've been enjoying sitting in my rocking chair, hand sewing on my lap. I'm working on my Secret Santa gift, I have to hurry and finish, as the deadline for sending it is drawing near.


I've also finished a Christmas stocking, only 4 more to do for my family. We had a Saturday Special on the forum, in which we made stockings and posted pictures and 'talked'. Here is mine.



Our Fall table runner swap is over with, and boy are there some beauties! What a lot of talent there is in on the forum! This one is mine, made by my friend Colleen. If you would like to see more of them, you can find the album here:
http://www.thequiltandneedle.com/forums/photos/photo-thumbnails.asp?albumid=82











And we are all gearing up for next years Round Robin too!! I love Round Robins. You get to add borders to your friends medallions, and have them add to yours. Then you have a lovely wall hanging or quilt, and everytime you look at it, you'll think of your friends. It also helps you to think outside your own box. You might have to work with colors you don't normally. You have to consider what has been done by someone else before you, hoping that the border you chose to do will be just right. It's lots of fun. I think that my medallion this time, will be the Carpenters wheel, and I'll make it with some gorgeous died fabric that Connie made. Her products are in the quilt and needle store. It's going to be lovely! I can't wait to get started on it....But I still have stockings to make, secret santa gift to finish, an armchair cozy to finish....

It's a windy day, perfect for sitting inside with the radio on....sewing machine humming! Have a great day everyone.

Dorian

November Snug Society Quilters Give Back Projects

“Many Hands Make Light Work!”

NOVEMBER’S SNUG SOCIETY QUILTERS GIVE BACK PROJECTS: Thanksgiving is right around the corner. What better way to express your thankfulness for all your blessings than to be a blessing to someone else! The Snug Society projects will provide the way to do just that, to be a comfort to others in need.

The November “I Spy” quilt will be blocks made of warm colors, such as oranges, reds, browns, yellows and golds. You can find block sizes and cutting information here. This quilt will benefit a resident of the Pine Ridge Native American Reservation in South Dakota.

Our November Sweet Child quilt blocks will feature fairies bordered by turquoise, green or purple. You can also make pieced block centers from these colors rather than using “fairy-themed” fabrics. You can find information on this project here. These quilts provide comfort to children from abusive situations that are counseled at Harmony Home in Texas.

The November Snug Uniblocks will feature autumnal colors (oranges, reds, browns, yellows and golds) with white or off-white backgrounds. You can find this quarter’s block pattern and other information about these quilts here. The quilts from this project will be sent to comfort wounded veterans in hospitals here in the States as well as abroad.

August 2009 Snug UniBlock Quilt Top

My Trip to Market - Why I Didn't See Much of the New Spring Products

At market I went to dinner with my friend Pati Fried of Red Thread Studios (http://www.patifried.com). After a lovely Greek meal, we got down to shop talk. Pati, who is a quilter and wonderful artist (we shall see great things from her soon) strongly encouraged me to seek out distributors for my designs. She loved the designs and my ideas about great mystery quilts. She also said I really needed to start teaching my patterns locally, in order to achieve the goals I have set for my personal career.

I really had no idea if I would do either of these things...

I could only attend market for a few hours the following afternoon, as I can't leave Sapphire for very long while I am still nursing her. Just after arriving and registering, I went into the closest ladies' room and you would not believe who was in there! My LQS owner!! I thought this must be the cosmos pushing me to approach her about teaching in her shop. I will spare you the details, but she wants me to start next semester - January. WOW!! I hadn't even hit the floor and I have become a Mystery Quilt Teacher!! Terri (the shop owner) was very enthusiastic and seemed excited to have me on board. I have since met with Terri and we are finalizing the dates for my classes. I will be teaching Mystery Classes as well as a couple of others. EXCITING!!

After meeting with Terri in the ladies room (hahaha), I took some deep breaths and headed to the show room floor to look for fabric for my December Mystery. First things first though, I must find Pati and give her a hug for encouraging me to approach Terri in the first place. I found her quickly (aren't cell phones cool?) and she was very excited for me. She also said that she heard during a school house session yesterday that Northcott was looking for pattern designers for their new collections. Awesome, I LOVE Northcott. We headed over to their booth and I sat down with one of their marketing directors... and a few hours later met their other marketing director... and long story short...
I am one of the new pattern designers for Northcott Fabrics!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then I pretty much just walked and stared, at nothing really. Couldn't really concentrate you see. Anyway, I had a great Fall Market experience, but I really didn't see much of anything while I was there!

Thank you all for your support. I can't wait to get started on these fabulous new ventures and to share them with you all in the coming year!

Jess