Book-to-Precut Cheat Sheet

Alrighty. I have worked up this handy little cheat sheet contained all on one page for you. I used the chart I created for Seems Like Scrappy and left that on the right, while adding the same type of information about Seamingly Scrappy on the left.

If you missed the other post about this chart, basically I listed all of the projects from the book and which precut belongs to which quilt. It also has some other helpful information particularly for shop owners and teachers, but it's good information for everyone, so I wanted to share it here with you where you could print off your own copy.

Oh, and one other little detail I forgot to mention the other day, if you print this out and look at the column labeled "Great for Samples" - this line is pretty much specific for shop owners. I realize your time is precious and you all wish you had more time to sew... So if you want to make a sample but only have time to make one, make one with a star next to it!

Here is the link to the chart! I hope this helps you to streamline the information needed so you can concentrate more on creating a gorgeous quilt or two!

Don't forget, if you need anything, my contact information is at the top! Let me know if there's anything else I can help you out with and don't forget to send me pictures of your finished quilts!

Quilting Splotch Part Two

Even though my job is to quilt and finish other's projects, sometimes I am the worst at finishing my own. I can look at other's quilt tops and know exactly how it should be quilted...

Then I look at mine for months and I can't think of where to start. I guess it comes back to that saying - you are your own worst critic... It just depends on the quilt and the project, but I will guarantee my own quilts are much harder to plan than my clients most of the time. I just put too much pressure on myself sometimes.

 Some days I just need a reset or a refresh moment. Well, remember this quilt I shared yesterday? I loved how the chevron quilting turned out... And we chose this pattern to emphasize the elongated blocks...

 Then I was staring at my own Splotch Part Two... And it's kinda modern and it would be neat to emphasize the stripes in the background... And that's when the idea of quilting it with a chevron design hit my upside the head!

Now that would be all good and plenty, but us long armers have a tendency to over quilt our own stuff. That's why it takes forever to come up with a plan and execute it. It's so easy to go overboard with the quilting. The simple plan is the least taken sometimes...

 So then I started thinking about another option to show off the hexagons too. I just finished those dahlias recently on Bobette's quilt and I though they would look nice in the blocks. So then the plan shifted to dahlias in the hexagons and chevrons in the background...

But then I started thinking that plan was too much of a good thing. Maybe less is more or random is best? So I thought about taking a Sudoku approach to the dahlias and I will quilt them in like above picture. The Sudoku part comes in where there's only one dahlia per row and column...

Then what I'll do is fill in the rest of the quilt with chevrons up to the hexagons filled with dahlias. That way they will hopefully stand out a bit more and give that unexpected pop of excitement I'm hoping for.

All in all it should work out well and hit all the right notes I'm trying to achieve. This quilt is quickly becoming my favorite (at the moment until the next favorite comes along) and I hope to have it done and ready to show at Spring Market.

I always like providing options with my designs. I realize that the quilting community is a visual place. Sometimes it's hard for quilters to come up with their own ideas when they fall in love with a quilt. Usually they want to make that quilt with those fabrics just like the picture... However, I find when I show the same quilt a couple of different ways, quilters are more open to choosing their own fabrics and ideas and come up with some of the coolest things!

At least that is what I have noticed and it helps me to play with more fabric and work "outside the box" more.

So hopefully this is either being quilted or will be shortly and I will share the finished product when I can!

Do you like this plan? Is there something else you'd do that I haven't thought of? Voice your opinions in the comments below and we can brainstorm together! Who knows, this quilt is so fun I just may make another that would need to be quilted a different way. I made a whole new version of Aura from Seamingly Scrappy just so I could quilt it differently than my first two...

Just a reminder that Splotch is a new pattern of mine found in my new book, Seems Like Scrappy due out this June. You can preorder your copy in my shop and I will sign it for you!

Well, I'm off to sew! Have a great day!

Third Edition

Yesterday I came home to find some exciting news in my mail:

Martingale sent me a letter to tell me that Seamingly Scrappy is being reprinted, again!!! 

Thank you to everyone that has purchased a copy and loves scrappy quilts as much as I do!

I still can't believe this is my job and it's been a wonderful journey so far, I can't wait to see what it'll be like after Seems Like Scrappy is released soon!

Thank you again! -Rebecca

Seems Like Scrappy Preview: Splotch

Very similar to my first title, Seamingly Scrappy, this new book, Seems Like Scrappy, will feature several quilts designed to give you a scrappy look by using precuts. There are 14 quilts in this new book and I've shown you several thus far that use your favorite precuts including fat quarters, layer cakes and jelly rolls. One pattern I've introduced you to was designed to use a fairly new precut, the Tonga 6-pack, and today I'm going to show a project that uses another newer precut, the honeycomb.

Photo provided by Martingale, photography by Brent Kane

Here's Splotch! This is a fun, quirky, easy to create small quilt that is packed with personality! I had so much fun creating this little gem and I'm actually working on another version of it now.

Wait, I need to backup a minute. What's a honeycomb you may be asking? A honeycomb is a fairly new precut from the fabulous minds at Moda. It is a hexagon shape that is 6" from point to point. Just like charm packs and layer cakes, you get a variety of fabrics in each pack and a little bonus... A bonus you ask... Because this shape is a bit more complex than your regular ole strips and squares, included in each pack is a plastic template with a small hole 1/4" in from each point. That way if you'd like to piece them just as is, you can mark the intersections to create Y seams (if you're planning on piecing it that way).

There are several projects out and about in the marketplace featuring hexagon shapes (whether the fabrics started that way or not) and it's fun to play with a new shape that isn't a square. These pieces are so much fun to play with and for this particular pattern, I've taken the fear and concern of weird shapes out of the picture. Trust me.

Splotch is super quick and fun to make, like I said before, I'm making another one. I hope to show it to you soon. When I made the original (shown above), I had so much fun playing off of the vibe it gave, so I kept the quilting simple and slightly modern. You can see it fairly well in this picture because I used Dream Puff batting to show off the texture even more.

I thought this quilt reminded me of tumbling blocks and toys for toddlers and I originally imagined this quilt as a nursery decoration. The version I'm making now has a much more elegant feel with the Fig Tree fabrics and I'm adjusting the background slightly (I always have to make a small complex adjustment because I can. It's the artist in me, I can't stop it). I'm hoping this new version will work well as a wall hanging in my living room or kitchen... We shall see where it ends up... And I promise to show it to you once I get the top done. It's looking well so far. I need to lay it out to plan the next step and I just haven't had the opportunity yet. I have too many quilts in the works... Eh, the story of my life!

So, I'm curious. Have you played with honeycombs before? Have you seen them at your LQS and picked it up to study it, but set it back down because you didn't know what to do? Now, you know! Plus, if you can't find them locally, they are available in several online shops. Isn't the internet wonderful?!

I have one more pattern in Seems Like Scrappy that will also use the honeycomb. I will share that quilt in the future, I have so many more quilts to share! Seems Like Scrappy will be released this June, but I will be showing the book and all of my quilts at Spring Market, so if you're planning on heading to Market, come see me! I'll be bringing my alternate versions too to show options, it should be a good time. Who am I kidding? Market is always a good time! It's just more fun when I have quilts and all of this secret sewing I can finally show!

I will be back next Monday with another quilt and more pictures. I actually just got a bunch of the quilts back from Martingale! I was happy to come home from vacation to this big box of awesomeness!

That is a big box of quilts (it's actually only a bit more than half of the quilts in the book)! More to come soon!

Seems Like Scrappy Preview: Annabelle

Well folks, best I can tell, Seems Like Scrappy has been delayed until a June release... So you'll just have to wait a bit longer to get your hands on this goodness, but trust me - it'll be worth it!

Today I wanted to show you the largest quilt in the book, Annabelle:

Photo provided by Martingale, photography by Brent Kane

I was inspired by antique two-color quilts for this design. I wanted to "spiff it up" and changed the basic layout keeping one color as a constant (the red) and making the alternative super scrappy. To keep things interesting, I added in these little stars scattered them about the quilt.

When I design quilts like this one, I try to keep that classic feel and honor the heritage of the quilts from years past. In order to accomplish this task I try to only switch out one thing at a time... First I had the idea of adding the stars and that alone would have been great. This book however isn't called two-color quilts, it's meant to be scrappy! So that is where I decided to scrap up one piece of this puzzle.

The trick to keeping a balance when you have so many fabrics in a quilt like this is to keep it subtle. The mixture of prints used in grays and tans and pinks looks much more harmonious in real life (I promise, pinky swear). When you pair all of those warm tones with that deep dark red, the red is so bold it blends together the rest of the fabrics even when normally you'd think they may not work together.

Now with keeping it subtle, you want your scrappy pieces to be individual enough to stand out on their own when mixed in a grouping like this. If your fabrics all look too similar and don't stand out a bit in the mix, you could sabotage yourself and make it look like you only used three fabrics when you used 20... Why go through all of that work to have it mush in the end?

I elaborate more on this topic in the book and much more with several tips and tricks like I had in my first book, Seamingly Scrappy. I could go on forever about color choices and scrappy quilts, but I will share all of that with you little by little.

Annabelle was one of the few quilts that was named quite easily. I have such a hard time coming up with names for all of my quilts and this one made it easy. Well, easy if you can follow my logic:

* I'm a car girl living in NE Ohio... There are several classic car shows in the area almost every night of the week during the summer (you have to show off those cars when you only have three months or so out of the year to do it!)

* Annabelle has a classic look to me but she's got some spunk with that deep cherry red... it reminds me of those classic cars...

* One of my favorite movies had a ton of cars that were named for identities (Gone in 60 Seconds)

* There used to be this diner a few towns over that was THE PLACE for classic car cruise-ins when I was growing up and it was called Annabelle's Diner.

* Annabelle. Consider this quilt named!

Sometimes the quilt name has little actually to do with the piecing or the design rather than the feeling it exudes. I honestly wish I didn't have to name quilts and could just label them Quilt No. 45, but that's pretty boring, so I look at coming up with names as a brain exercise. It pushes my creativity in a completely different way.

Annabelle is the largest quilt in the book, but one of the easiest to make. The pattern calls for fat quarters and some yardage for the red, but this quilt could take on a completely different feel by switching up the color scheme to suit your needs.

I hope you like this quilt! I know I LOVE it!!! Annabelle and 13 other quilt patterns will be in Seems Like Scrappy, my latest book due out in June (at the moment). Check back here every week as I show you a new quilt from the book up to the release date!

Happy Mail

I've gotten myself into one of those patterns where it seems like everything I'm working on is classified under "super secret sewing" which leaves me very little to share here with you...

However, in the midst of all of the crazy sewing happening here, I completely forgot about a new book until a copy of it arrived on my doorstep over the weekend!

I am honored to be one of several quilters to have projects featured in this new book. Many of the quilts you may recognize from previous publications (like Tiny Bits from Seamingly Scrappy) but the powers that be at Martingale brought all of these amazing quilts together into one book specifically for baby quilts.

Each quilt is fun and adorable and has a personality all it's own so there is something to create for every nursery and every baby shower in your future. This is a great book to have on hand and refer to for more than just baby showers too, you could use these quilts as a small stash buster or they would be great for charity quilts like Project Linus and such! And the best part is they are all found in one book together. Easy peasy.

Welcome Baby is great for all skill levels too, but is perfect for beginner quilters. There is a wide range of techniques used from pattern to pattern to build skills, yet the projects are small so they're not overwhelming! I'm thinking about using this as a basis to start some of my friends that have shown interest in learning to quilt.

This book was just released so your should be able to find it in your local quilt shops. However, if you live by the timeframe that you don't like to wait, you can always purchase it online by clicking here.

I think I have a few small things I can share with you in the near future... What can I say, it's winter and I'm kinda boring over here - and that's perfectly fine with me!

Woodland Sunset Part Two

In eager anticipation of Seems Like Scrappy coming out next May... I thought it would be fun to revisit some of the quilts from my first book, Seamingly Scrappy. This summer (or fall, I honestly can't remember) I quilted up a new version of Woodland Sunset.

 When I was picking out the fabric for the original quilt, I picked out Fat Quarters knowing that I only needed Fat Eighths... This way I could have two quilts! Score! I didn't get around to making this quilt as soon as I had expected (obviously) so the border fabrics weren't available for a duplicate quilt. No problem, I improvised and played in an alternate color story...

 I quilted this shortly after I finally tried ruler work on the long arm... I was hooked, I think it looks awesome!

 I continued the lines into the side setting pieces and then quilted the border to mimic the fabric.

 I really love how the quilting looks in the smaller blocks in the border.

 Hard to believe the same fabrics were used for both quilts, here's the original quilt below:

And just to prove it, I did this to show how much changing the border fabric can alter the look of a quilt. Pretty cool, huh? 

Once again, these quilts are from the pattern Woodland Sunset out of my first book, Seamingly Scrappy. Who knows, this quilt is so fun and simple to make, I may make another some day. Right now I keep thinking about Christmas quilts to make... This would be a fun winter quilt... In all of my spare time, right?

Change of plans

I had this great idea yesterday to download all of my pictures off of my camera and write some witty blog post... Well, that all got derailed when I got a frantic text from my BFF that her dog was missing. They had gone door to door and were planning to put up flyers so I went to the park behind her house and walked the paths looking for Bridgette, the dog. 

I turned up nothing and her hubby went looking out back in the woods again, but luckily it was all effort well wasted. They now live on a super busy road and Bridgette somehow ended up by the road. A nice dog lady picked her up and took care of her before returning her home yesterday morning. 

 And here she is reunited with her kids. Phew, that could have turned out so differently, but we are very glad she's home. 

With her home safe, I got back to quilting and started on this long overdue project:

This is another version of Woodland a Sunset from Seamingly Scrappy, my first book with Martingale. I was able to quilt everything but the backgrounds. I'm completely stumped. I normally don't unload a quilt half finished, but this one can wait a bit until I figure out the best plan for it. Any ideas? All I can think of right now is pebbling , but my arm wasn't feeling up to tons of pebbles yesterday. 

I also need to piece the back for my plus quilt, I got some other fabrics for another tutorial, oh , I did finish my mini plus too and I need to share that... Lately it seems like there's everything and nothing going on all at once. I've been busy, but I can't share most of it :(

Alas, more good stuff is to come and I'm hoping for a nice boring day today. Have a great day and we will chat again soon!

Calendar Winner

Sorry for the delay in this post, I forgot to look at the calendar when I cut off the entries and I didn't want to interrupt the fun with the Fun-Size Quilts Blog Hop.

So, the winner of the 2015 Calendar is:

Liz LesJuly 18, 2014 at 6:45 PM

Thanks for the great opportunity to win the 2015 calendar.

Liz, please e-mail me at rubybluequilts (at) gmail (dot) com with your snail mail address so I can get your calendar into the mail!

Thank you to everyone that commented and don't forget you still have time to win copies of Fun-Size Quilts, just go to the post here to enter. 

Have a great weekend!

New Calendar Release (And a GIVEAWAY!!!)

This giveaway is now closed. Thank you to everyone that entered! Come back soon for more giveaways!

I am so honored to be a calendar girl once again in one of Martingale's amazing calendars.

They just released a few new options to grace your walls in 2015, and if you look in the A Year of Quilts 2015 Calendar, I'm Miss August. This calendar is gorgeous and features pictures of quilts in outdoor settings, like mine:

Now, this calendar just was released this week so it may not be gracing your local quilt shops just yet, but they should be arriving soon. Or, if you don't want to wait, you can enter to win one here!

Just leave a comment below and you'll be entered into a chance to win your own A Year of Quilts 2015 Calendar! A random winner will be chosen July 24th, so check back then to see if you've won. 

Now, Martingale does have other calendars you could choose from, to see a complete listing of all of your choices, head on over to their blog by clicking here. 

I can't believe it's already time for the calendars to be released, I don't know where this year has gone! But I'm still playing catch up, so that could explain alot. Come back tomorrow for more pictures of my trip to Paris and I'll show you how amazing the City of Lights looks at night. It's magical I tell ya!

Announcing the Winners!!!

Without further ado, the winners are:

Grand Prize (both autographed books and a $25 iTunes gift card) 

Miranda PJune 14, 2014 at 6:46 PM

I'm torn with Lady A and Florida Georgia Line. They are both amazing!! Thanks for the chance!!

Mini Grand Prize (both autographed books and a $15 iTunes gift card):

KathyJune 7, 2014 at 10:45 PM

I love country music - Billy Currington and Keith Urban

Signed copy of Kitchen Stitches:

SueJune 7, 2014 at 11:20 AM

I am a Big fan of Micheal Buble ! I listen to Pandora while I am sewing :-D My guess for you would be Blake Shelton

Kathy HJune 11, 2014 at 10:21 AM

I enjoyed the rest of your show pictures. What a beauty of a quilt. I think you would enjoy the eagles. I wasn't a big fan when they were very popular but have since become one.

Signed copy of Seamingly Scrappy:

Farm QuilterJune 7, 2014 at 10:35 PM

38 Special is a great band to listen to when I am quilting an E2E pattern so I can just rock out to the music - makes for a fast quilt!!!

Phyllis MoynihanJune 8, 2014 at 4:03 AM

Pink Floyd

Congrats to all of the winners. You have until the end of the week to send me your snail mail address to claim your prize before I choose a new winner. If you didn't get an e-mail from me, there wasn't an e-mail address left or you are set up as a no reply. E-mail me your information to rubybluequilts (at) gmail (dot) com.

And since this was so much fun, I wanted to share with you which music you guessed that I listen to, the music you guessed I don't listen to, and some of my other personal favorites.

Let's get started with the correct guesses. These play either on my Pandora, my CDs, my MP3s, the radio, or you may find me dancing to them in public given the chance:

Luke Bryan (I'm actually seeing him in concert this summer)

Colbie Callait

Michael Buble

Led Zeppelin

Lady Antebellum

38 Special

Billy Currington

Keith Urban

Metallica

Jason Aldean (I'm going to see him too)

Dierks Bentley

Air Supply

The Beatles

Straight No Chaser

Martina McBride

Journey

Chicago

Jim Brickman

Taylor Swift (yes, kinda sorta still)

Kenny Chesney

Tim McGraw

The Band Perry

Miranda Lambert (seeing her with Jason Aldean!)

Blake Shelton

CCR

Heart

Florida Georgia Line (seeing them with Jason too, it's gonna be a great concert)

Richard Marks

So that didn't leave many guesses that I don't listen to. That left:

Natalie McMaster

the Rankin Family

Enya

Springsteen (hate me if you must)

Toby Keith (not a big fan)

Pink Floyd

Mumford and Sons

Jack Johnson

the Stones

Tiffany Alvord

Ray Charles

Rockapella

Eagles (again, hate me if you must)

Kaiser Chiefs

John Williams

Hank Williams Jr.

Fleetwood Mac

Barbara Streisand

Neal Sedaka

James Taylor

Beach Boys (however I grew up listening to 45s on my grandparents jukebox, they're just not in my current playlist)

George Strait

Rod Stewart

Benny Goodman

Trisha Yearwood

Barry Manilow

Cher

Elton John

Okay, maybe now that I see it all in a list, there may have been more that I don't listen to. And trust me, I may not dislike their music, but it's not something I regularly seek out and listen to.

And now for the odd balls. Here's some music I listen to all the time that may surprise you:

Pentatonix

Lindsey Stirling (seriously, check her out, she's AMAZING)

Korn

Slipknot

Mushroomhead

Disturbed

Nat King Cole

JANET JACKSON (enough said)

Staind

Brantley Gilbert

Colt Ford

Bruno Mars

Daughtry

Linkin Park

Incubus

Ingrid Michaelson

Justin Moore

Katy Perry

30 Seconds to Mars

Kelly Clarkson

One Republic

Rascal Flatts

Sara Bareilles

SHeDAISY

Theory of a Deadman

Zac Brown Band

Styx

Jake Owen

Boston

Toto

Kansas

Frank Sinatra

And many many more! 

So as you can see I like my rock, especially hard rock (it helps to quilt faster), some country (which is what I grew up on...), some 80's (but when you're a child of the 80's...) some 70's rock (when your parents grew up in that era...), and some classics. Probably not the music you had in mind. Or atleast some of them. I just looked and between my Hubby and I we have 254 different artists in our iPods... That's not including the stacks of CDs we still have :)

But thanks for stopping by if you're still reading this and if there's anything else you think I should listen to, please share! Have a great day and congrats to the winners again!

Musical Giveaway!!!

This giveaway is now closed! Thanks to all that entered!!!

I came up with this idea during Market and I've been waiting for the perfect opportunity to try it out. Definitely, one if the questions I get asked the most about long arm quilting is:

WHAT MUSIC DO YOU LISTEN TO???

I have a super eclectic mix on my iPod and my Pandora account also gets a ton of use. So how does this giveaway work? What can you win?

Here's the plan: leave. Comment with the name of a singer or band or artist that you think I would listen to. Be creative. 

Just by leaving a comment you will be entered to win an autographed copy of with Kitchen Stitches or Seamingly Scrappy. 

However, if you actually guess someone I listen to, you will be entered to win the Grand Prize of both signed books and an iTunes $25 gift card. 

There is also a chance to win a Mini Grand Prize of both signed books and a $15 iTunes gift card. 

Oh, and did I mention there are 6 chances to win? There's the Grand Prize, the Mini Grand Prize, and two copies of each book up for grabs!

Because of the unprecedented nature of this giveaway and because I want to let your creativity blossom, I'm giving you until next Saturday, June 14th to enter. Tell all of your friends too and send them over. Also, you can enter once a day! 

Sound fun? I sure hope so! Like I said, get creative and I will post winners the following Monday. Good luck!

My booth at Market...

I know Market was awhile ago and I've gotten behind again on my blog. Sorry about that. When Market time rolls around you truly forget how much is involved and I've been working diligently on my new manuscript as well as a whole slew of other things and before you know it, I pass out on the couch and no blogging... Not cool!

So, I know it's a tad late, but I wanted to share pictures from my home away from home for a few days during Market.

 Here it is! My little piece of the Market puzzle. And puzzle it was! I along with a bunch of other Martingale Authors participated in the Author Hop. It's pretty neat, you get a passport and go around to all of the booths listed, collect a stamp and get entered into a drawing for books and other prizes. People kept getting lost finding me but the crazy thing was I WAS RIGHT ACROSS THE AISLE from Martingale. I could see the basket the Grand Prize Winner would get... Oh well.

 I brought out many of the quilts from Seamingly Scrappy to show off and they got a ton of love during Market.

 I also got a preview of a fun new book I'm in coming out next month... More on that later though... :)

 My little table was so full of stuff! Most importantly was the Jolly Ranchers and chocolates which sadly were breakfast and lunch most days. Not joking... We were slap happy by the end of the day on Sunday, probably due to the mass amounts of candy in our systems!

 I absolutely LOVE the Pittsburgh Convention Center due to this natural light that streams in all day long. This was my view from my booth and it was so nice to see clouds and sun and something outside while we were inside. Many convention centers are drab and dark and no windows... How boring!

 We also were showing the new Heritage BOM that will be released shortly. I'll do a whole post later to show off this gem!

And because I could... Talk about sunlight!!! How many places can you say this was your booth inside? I snapped a picture or two.

But that was it, we did it, we ended up carrying everything out to the car afterwards (not fun, you can read why here) and aside from the one wrong turn out of the city, we made it home and still do not have a new coffee table yet. I may just keep this broken one forever until it meets it's match. Or I find a replacement. I'm not searching too hard right now, I have other fish to fry. Speaking of which, gotta go quilt!

It's Market Time!!!

We made it. The booth is set up. I've just had a cup of coffee and we are getting ready to head over to the show. 

This was how we left the booth last night, the aisle carpet wasn't down yet. But anywho, come visit our booth #614! We can chat about my new BOM pattern (hanging to the right) that will be released next month, you can gain some energy from the candy buffet on my table (which I'll have to tell you about later), AND best of all, you can come meet Mr. Ruby Blue! My Hubby, Ben, is with me and it's gonna be a fun weekend. Hope to see you soon! 

Machine Quilting: Field Day

Before I forget, don't miss your chance to win some prizes and read about my block in the latest issue of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Volume 9, just click here, you have until Saturday to enter!

Now that is taken care of, let get back to the quilt feature of the day!

 Granted it is sideways, but Kathy made this version of Field Day from my book, Seamingly Scrappy! I knew she made this pattern before I quilted it, we talked about it. I was in such a brain mush state when I was working on quilting it, I completely forgot all that we had talked about and AFTER I finished quilting it I looked at it from a distance and was like, "It's Field Day!"

I absolutely LOVE her color choices and that striped border (I'm a sucker for stripes and plaids on the bias!). This quilt was so fun and bright and to keep it simple and playful it was quilted with all-over pointed swirls. This is one of my favorite designs to quilt because it is so versatile and it really softens the look of some quilts.

Thanks, Kathy! You did an amazing job and I love the results!

Second Edition

Granted I knew when I got to Spring Market last year that my book, Seamingly Scrappy was going into it's second printing... What took me until last week to realize was this:

It even says it on the box!!! How cool is that?! That is all :)

Happy Anniversary, Durby!

Now, I know that I've mentioned before that my publishers are awesome and I am so happy to be a part of their crafty family. Well, I was told of this tradition they have in the past and I completely forgot about it with Market coming up and just general business around here.

Last week I got an e-mail from Durby, the copywriter at Martingale, that she finally got her quilt for her 10 year anniversary with the company. How exciting is that?! The best part (for me personally) is that Durby chose her quilt from a pattern in MY BOOK!!!!

This is Durby when she received her amazing version of Coinage from Seamingly Scrappy. I love the colors they chose and that smile says it all! Congrats again, Durby! You can see this post on Martingale's Facebook page by clicking here. Go hop on over and wish Durby an awesome anniversary!

As I mentioned, this is a tradition throughout Martingale and you can read more about it here:

http://blog.shopmartingale.com/quilting-sewing/free-quilts-for-all-when-you-work-here-10-years/

The Little Things

It really is the little things in life, isn't it? Yesterday in the mail I received the new Martingale catalog and in the back I found this:

That was enough to make my day!

Chautauqua Weekend

I just spent my first weekend at the Quilts Around Chautauqua Show held at the Chautauqua Institute in New York. It's an amazing area and the scenery was gorgeous. 

Like this view from our booth for the weekend. Occasionally I would find myself staring out the window rather than focusing on the people in the booth. But then they'd see the view and we were all staring out the window. :)

Sunday I got a chance to visit some of the other buildings (this show is in several small buildings spread across the Institute grounds) and I heard one building in particular would be a good one for me to visit. When I walked in I saw a version of Aura from my book, Seamingly Scrappy, hanging in the distance. 

Isn't it pretty? I love the fabrics! But this was just a small taste of what this building had in store. 

Traveling further into the building I found this!!! One of the local guilds made Aura into a queen size and chose it for their raffle quilt for this year! I was tickled pink and still smile just thinking about it. 

And I know it may sound weird to purchase raffle tickets for a quilt I designed , but I wanted a ticket and I wanted to support this guild since they chose to make my design. I didn't technically "buy " the tickets, I put my Hubby's name down instead so it wasn't too weird. :) But isn't that the coolest thing ever?!

The show was amazing and I am still exhausted from all of the excitement. I met a ton of wonderful people and can't wait to do it again next year! 

Special Delivery!!!

Today a surprise came in the mail addressed to me:

The second printing of my book is officially here in the flesh!!! This is the perfect end to my week (kinda) and a reason to celebrate! Yippee! Now I want a cupcake... :)