A Quilter's Touch Taping

So yesterday I got to do something kind of new and different. Linda Ramrath, host of "A Quilter's Touch" on Holliston (MA) CATV channel 8 had asked me to be her guest and share some of my group quilts. She recently did a show about her own experiences participating in row robins, and thought this seemed like a good extension of the idea. You can check out her row robin episode, which is now streaming online, here.

I was very honored and very freaked out. What will my traditionally unruly hair do that day? (It sort of behaved.) Will I talk too fast? (Yes, I did.) Will I talk too much? (Yes, I did. Step back Donald Trump.) Will I screw up the demo of my block? (I don't think I did.) Will all hell break loose with three children going in two directions with three other adults shuffling them around all afternoon and me an hour away and unable to leave, because television waits for no one and the show must go on? (It didn't, but as we moms know it's always a stressor.) And of course the biggest question: WHAT WILL I WEAR?

I think the above photo shows that Linda and I both looked stunning in our blouses that totally matched the quilts behind us. I promise you it was unplanned and only proves that quilters know color. Why I worried about what pants I was going to wear I have no idea. I mean really. No one saw me under that table.

I felt a bit like a Girl Scout on a field trip at the studio. Since this is cable-access and the studio is used by the whole town, Linda had to do the set dressing (yeah, I learned that term on "Castle") herself - see all those cool quilts and bags on the shelf?- and we had to hang the quilts and hide my block pieces (I demoed the KS block later in the show) for easy access. Then we had to run through the show and as the camera people talked about "one-shots", "two-shots" and some sort of scene jump thing I was starting to feel out of my element. We got all miked up and we were ready to go.

I was slightly horrified when I learned, after the first scene was shot, that this was a one-take situation. Holy crap. How can they trust me with that kind of thing - I don't even have a SAG card! I know I screwed up, I know I talked too much, and I can only hope this show will not be the demise of Linda's cool program after four successful years. Thank God for editing. I feel like I will owe Linda a case of wine if she can make this look good!

By far my favorite part of the experience is the awe my children have over the fact that mom is going to be on TV. Eva in particular keeps saying to me "Mom, what is it like to be famous?" which is way hilarious, but she is insistent that between her quilt and this taping that I am the next Angelina Jolie. I did concede at dinner last night that while I am not famous, okay, I'll give you that I am more famous than Daddy. If you judge a person's fame by a count of google hits of their name. But he is richer than me so it kind of evens it all out.

I have no idea when the show will air, but I do know that after a few weeks on the cable channel it too will stream online. So if I don't end up looking like too much of a dolt, I'll let you all know when that happens!

Thank you to Linda Ramrath, who is just a lovely human being and a true television professional, for allowing me to have this opportunity!

Giveaway week winner annoucement

Yes I said 9:00pm. I will ask you to review the last post for any evidence where I said 9:00pm EST. So really I am just early for CST.

Thank you all for the seriously amazing salad suggestions. I would have to whip up a new salad every day of the summer and then some to try them all, and let's face it, that isn't happening, but I have so many new ones to try now and that makes me so very happy. I am intrigued by the number of you who suggested spinach salad with strawberries. It was for sure the top suggested, followed by cucumber and tomato salad - which I have had and do enjoy- and somehow in my lifetime I have never tried it. Well bring on strawberry season! It's on the menu for the week after next.

Yes, I am one of those people who plans a menu for the week, sometimes two weeks. I promise that if you ever stop by to check out my studio without calling first you would never in a million years believe I could be that organized about anything.

But enough with the salads for now - to the winner! As always with these giveaways, I asked my daughters to pick me a number between 1 and 183. They chose 24, because, in their own reasoning, "There are only 24 days left of school!!!!!! (insert joyous glee and infinite squealage here)"

Someone refill my valium now.

So without further ado - my winner is Kristy "a simple greek salad topped with bbq'ed flank steak slices and balsamic dressing" from cottonaddiction, who earned that 24th slot by becoming a follower. See, it is worth something! Congratulations Kristy! I have already emailed you so as soon as I hear from you I will be sending your magazine and fabrics along.

Thank you again to everyone who played. I promise to mention any fabulous salads that I try based on your suggestions here on the blog. It isn't as good as winning, maybe, but I hope it will make you feel special.

Sew Mama Sew Post-Market Giveaway Week

So what if I didn't go to market? So what if I didn't get this post up until halfway through the week? I've been having way too much fun entering giveaways over on Sew Mama Sew and reading new blogs and I couldn't think of a good reason not to join in with a giveaway of my own.

To all new readers - welcome! Here at the haven you will find stories of my designing escapades, ramblings on my girls, and maybe a photo of Jamie Fraser or two. Quilt police need not apply.

Back in March, when my baby "Quite Contrary" was on the cover of Quilter's World, I for some reason could not pass a newsstand where it was displayed without buying a copy. Or three. I now have so many lying around that I worry that if I were to meet some horrible untimely demise, whomever had to go through my studio would be all "Wow. Egotistical much?" and we really can't have that. So I am giving away a copy of the magazine, plus three 1/3 yards to get you 3/14ths on the way to making your very own QC.

The fabrics are, top to bottom, a Kaffe Fasset lime/blue floral print, a lime batik, and a lime dot. All are 100% cotton quilt shop quality fabrics purchased at my favorite LQS, Bunkhouse Quilt Shop in Lyndeboro NH. Using these would mean you would be making the quilt in limes rather than teals. I promise it will be gorgeous.

Two ways to enter:

Way #1 - (required) Please comment by telling me your favorite summer salad. I despise heat and and the less I have to cook dinner from June to September the better.

Way #2 - (optional) Become a follower of QHH or tell me you already are for an extra entry.

Winner will be drawn Monday May 28 at 9:00 am. Please be sure that if you are a no-reply blogger you leave your email in your comment so that I have a way to contact you!

***UPDATE ON DRAWING TIME: I failed to consider my daughters' roles in the Memorial Day parade when I stated the drawing would happen Monday at 9:00am. Since the Brownie troop banner won't march itself down Main Street, I am instead going to draw the winner at 9:00PM on Sunday, May 27. So we'll have a winner 12 hours earlier. I hope this does not upset anyone who had put the drawing in their Outlook calendar and now has to change it.***

Good luck, and be sure to check out all the other cool giveaways!

Surviving the merry month of May

A couple of years ago I created an album on my personal Facebook page entitled "Why moms are exhausted in June". It featured photos of the myriad of end-of-the-school-year ceremonies, recitals, plays, parades, and general insanity that come together to make even the work at home moms like myself who dread summer as it means we have to continue to meet deadlines along with making sure our children are entertained 24/7 beg for mercy and for the school year to come barrelling to a close so we can just breathe again.

Can I get an Amen from the crowd?

That was before I switched my daughters' dance studio to one that has recitals in May, third daughter decided to go into drama and voice and plays and lessons are in May, Girl Scouts moved bridging earlier, third grade features several end of year projects that involve parental help because for some reason MA still doesn't let 9 year olds drive, and oh by the way I have four major engagements between May 12 and June 7. This year's facebook album could be entitled "Why Moms just want to make it to June."

In no particular order, the highlights of my May so far:

1. The entertainment value of showing this quilt

which is my own example of what I made in one of my "Round Robin in a Day" classes, and having two people who attended the lecture both insist that they want the pattern to make it. Really? This thing? Hanging it on my design wall and snapping a photo and not even cropping it before inserting it in my blog is too good for it. But whatever. It made me feel special and gave me some interesting insight into what appeals to people. Not that I can figure out why.

2. Watching my big girls become Junior Girl Scouts via throwing brownie mix off the bridge. I was less than thrilled to be asked to be the person to collect the bags of mix after all 11 of them had crossed over until I realized they were all still in the original packaging. P and E's excited announcement that they were going to "Toss brownie mix at the crowd" had me thinking I would be right in the line of fire to be covered in brown dust. What a way to end my year as Cookie Mom that would have been.

3. Finding out that I can republish Quite Contrary as a self-published pattern under new directions and with some changes. Score another point for Quilter's World magazine and how nice they are to work with. I will need a new name, though, so I'm looking for suggestions. And I'm shopping. Check out these cool fabrics that just scream The Merry Month of May to me that I bought just this morning from www.thequiltedcastle.com.

4. Always a highlight is the 97 hour long dance recital. But I do enjoy watching my two dance very much, as well as all the other kids I actually know in the show. However I would be lying if I didn't admit to being happy to have my Wednesdays back until September.

5. As many of you know, I am a college graduate business owner book group member fairly intelligent woman. Who just so happens to be a total cheeseball who watches the train wreck of the century, The Bachelor. I blame Lincee Ray and her hilarious recaps on her blog "I Hate Green Beans" for my inability to stop watching. And no, the recaps are not enough. She's so fabulously snarky and sarcastic (sound familiar to any other bloggers you know and love?) and inserts such awesome pop culture references to the ridiculous goings-on that I am lost without actually watching. In my defense, I do try to be EQ-ing or binding or cutting while watching. Most of the time, anyway. I truly believe it makes me a better mom to daughters because I will do all I can to raise them to have self esteem so they don't end up like those wackos.

Anyway, knowing how much I love when people comment on here and/or seek me out to semi-stalk me via email, I couldn't resist sending her a little note to thank her for her hilarity and tell her that every now and then I even get traffic to my blog from hers and I find it wonderful to know I am not the only quilter in America who binds to the dulcut tones of "amazing journey" while waiting for the season's first half-Mesnick over the balcony. And she wrote back, proclaiming me a Quilting Hottie extraordinaire with the words "You own that you are young, fabulous, and a quilter. Quilting is the new knitting. Work it girl." Somehow that just made me laugh and I had to share.

Now it's on to the Memorial Day parade, a major cleanup of the studio, and off to Virginia in 10 days time. The old adage "You can sleep when you are dead" may just be what helps me get through.

Quilter's Sampler debrief

Saturday night, after an always amazing day of 7 hours of dance dress rehearsal, Mr. Quilting Hottie and I hosted our wine club. We like to feel important and hoity toity, so we call ourselves GNEWS - Greater New England Wine Society. I know you are impressed.

It's a group of 6 couples, most of whom can boast that one or both representatives hold an official alumni card from the engineering department of WPI. The notable exceptions are Mr. QHH and I, who represent the artsy and "who knows what because he refuses to tell me succinctly even though every Christmas I ask for a 20 word or less description of why money is deposited in our bank account every two weeks" working people of America. To the credit of the rest of the group, which actually does include one other sewing enthusiast, I am usually at least asked in passing "So, how is the quilting business?" which is very sweet of them as I know they probably think I am crazy for spending so much time doing something artistic for (less than) scads of money.

Imagine how cool I felt Saturday evening, when Steve, one of the techie wonders of the world and a truly great guy, asked "So, how is the quilting business?" and I was able to say "Great. I was just this week a featured instructor at a quilting symposium, actually. Have I mentioned how famous I am?"

I did leave off that last part. But to his credit, Steve filled it in.

For those of you who missed the return after 12 or so years of A Quilter's Sampler, let me tell you - it was a lovely event and I hope it is brought back for many years to come. Lots of classes and lectures and demos and vendors made it a fun experience of just checking out new ideas and techniques. I was very blessed to have a nice little crowd for my "Plays Well With Others" lecture debut and holy cow people were even taking notes! It was pretty cool and from the response I am confident that this will be a good second lecture for me.

NEQDC was able to have a booth in the vendors mall, and five out of six of us were able to help man it throughout the show. Since it is so rare that we get to be all in the same place at once, we figured five was good enough for a group photo, but we borrowed Linda from www.redbarnonline.com, our across the aisle neighbor, to stand in for Barbara.

We're excited to say we will see Barbara this weekend at the New Hampshire State Quilt Guild meeting, where we are all featured speakers and will resist the urge to wear the latest in head bag fashion. However, maybe it needs to be clear that we WILL be wearing some fashions - I just spell checked and the suggestion for "NEDQC" was "NAKED". Nice.

Friday evening we all got to attend Linda Hahn's lecture "Don't Quit Your Day Job....Yet" and it was a great look at all the things one must think of when attempting to have a career in this crazy business. While I am proud to say that after 7 years I am able to contribute to the household finances, it was a long road, and her lecture really brought home that there is no panacea, just a lot of hard work. I don't ever expect that my wine club will go from "Engineering couples and an artsy wacko" to "Mega-Famous Quilting Star and her minions" but a girl can dream. And keep working hard.



 

Excuses Excuses

We designers love our fans. We love them because without them, we would not be allowed to call ourselves professional quilt designers and be able to write off all of our thread purchases, travel to ports unknown and get a little break from reality while spending time with adults, or consider the merits of finally getting a smartphone to make credit card transactions easier. We also never would know the joy of opening an email or meeting someone in person who wants to tell us they made a pattern of ours and it was the highlight of their life thusfar. Or something similar - I'm paraphrasing, but of course only slightly.

Our fans also keep us on our toes, and I dedicate this post to all of you, and some of you may know who you are, who have ever said to one of us "So.....when is your next pattern coming out?" Seven little words that we love and/or can be the scourge of our existence at the same time at any given moment.

Don't get me wrong. We want you to ask, because it means you enjoy our work and want more of it. We need you to ask, because it means we know we have a sure audience for the next one. However, we sometimes dread you asking, because it means we have to get our asses in gear.

I was asked this innocent question twice at my guild meeting last week. By the second time I was absolutely flattered of course, but absolutely sure Greta was on to something when she calls it my "Guilt Meeting". So by way of excuse as to why I do not have something almost ready to go at the moment, here is my top ten list of reasons I more often than not need little break between patterns:

10. Most patterns take me about 2-3 months from conception to bagging. I promise you no one under the age of 10 in this house got a decent haircut or new shoes or was able to have a moment where I wasn't engrossed in pattern crap during that time, so I figure they deserve a little time where I am not pattern obsessed.
9. The rest of my business doesn't stop during pattern production (PP). I still have bills to pay, shows to vend, lectures to give, newsletters and blogs to write so you don't forget I exist, patterns to submit to other media, etc. I'm a huge fan of keeping the rotisserie chicken industry in full swing during PP. After PP (oooh. That sounds a little dirty, but we'll keep it anyway) I now and then enjoy throwing together a gourmet meal or two a week. Call me Julia.
8. EQ is destined to kill me. So if I have used EQ in my pattern, as I did with Kickin' Stash, I need to give myself even more time off to erase all of the blue language that has accumulated in my brain.
7. If Diana Gabaldon has come out with a new installment of the Voyager epics, no quilting can be done until I immerse myself once again in the world of Claire and Jamie.

7a. You are welcome.
6. My sewing studio is a disaster after a pattern. If I can find the floor I am happy. In all honesty, the mess can be so overwhelming that sometimes I just shut the door and don't go down there for days on end. And I actually like it. To move on would mean having to clean it. Who wants to do that?
5. Many times, for whatever reason, no fabrics I can find, anywhere, appeal to me right after a pattern comes out. Fabric overload or something. I'm a "I see it in my head and then I create it" designer, so if I am not inspired by the fabrics, I find it hard to create something. And so I wait to find a good piece of inspiration. Such as a plaid kilt.
4. Sometimes, as in these last few weeks, I think I have a good idea. But I can't seem to make it work. You may recall this photo from my DaGMT days

And here's another of the same project:

 I'm trying, but I can't get a second colorway to go together the way I want to. Partially because I forgot to write down what I was doing when I made the first blocks and now can't recreate it. Details rock - sadly, I have none of them close at hand for this one.
3. My sister introduced me to this tumblr: http://mydaguerreotypeboyfriend.tumblr.com/. Who knew Almanzo Wilder was so good looking back in the day? These things take time to investigate fully.

3a. You are welcome again.
2. Sometimes I want to make something that WASN'T my design. I can't do that in the midst of a PP time so I have to save it for afterward. I'm loving this little block for another way to use up fabrics right now. (Four blocks shown made by Laurie Thompson.) It's a free pattern at http://piecebynumber.com/circleofgeese.htm.

1. Let's face it, I love to design, but I also love to sleep, read, cook, and be lazy now and then. So I let myself for a while. And then when I am ready and inspired, I can knock out another pattern in 2-3 months.

The good news is - I'm close to being inspired. I can feel it. In the meantime, I do have a new project for Quilter's World in the works, so I promise you, I am not just sitting around checking out photos of hot dead men.

Although I highly recommend it.

Lunch, Lecture, and (with luck) Laughs at Quilter's Sampler

It's almost here - next week's debut of my "Plays Well With Others" group quiltmaking lecture, scheduled to take place Thurs May 10 as a Lunch and Learn at A Quilter's Sampler in Nashua NH. Check out http://www.aquiltersgathering.com/a_quilters_sampler_2012.htm for all the dirt on the event!

If the reactions of the flock/gaggle/fleet of American Girl dolls who have been my practice audience is any indication, this lecture is sure to entertain and inspire you, perhaps so much so that you remain unblinking the entire time. I can only surmise that they didn't want to miss anything. In the lecture I will discuss the various group projects that I have been involved in both in my guild and those projects which I have run online, and why I think group quiltmaking is a fantastic vehicle to up the creativity of any quilt, as well as great sources of new learning and inspiration for all the participants. Will I also discuss the dirty little secrets of what you do when you aren't happy with the results? Um...YEAH!

A little sneak peak from the slice house project of a few years ago:

Be the first to see this quilt, finished during Drop and Give me Twenty in February, bound and completed! And maybe even help me name it. Right now all I can come up with is "Migraine Waiting to Happen" as it is a LEEETLE busy. But I'll save the story of how it came to be and how it is a group quilt for the actual lecture.

It's really sure to be a good time and I hope you might consider coming by and checking out the entire event. There are lots of classes and other events still taking registrations and several wonderful vendors (NEQDC included!) who will be on hand to hook you up with the latest fabrics, notions, doodads, and swag to make your next project amazing. There is no fee for just showing up to shop, and I just found out that there is also no registration fee for lectures, but there is for classes. Something I thought important to share.

I hope to see you there!

Now off to do a little more prep on a group project that is actually due at my "guilt meeting" as Greta calls it tonight. I'd hate to be the group quilt queen with a tarnished crown for not finishing my portion on time.