Lemon Slice
I mentioned the un-packing of a quilt. This quilt is for a pattern that we will be releasing the middle of september. It uses nine RJR handspray fabrics. We will also be offering kits in the shop as well. Our friend Karen Greaves (I have mentioned her before) machine quilted this for us and wow. The quilting just makes this quilt pop! Did I mention Karen just uses her regular sewing machine? Amazing !Just thought I would just share a little "slice" of it with you. ~Cori

Happy Labour Day Long weekend!
These last few days have been full. From labeling school supplies, getting a quilt back from the quilter, putting the binding on, getting projects ready for Cape Cod, but one of the highlights of yesterday was getting this rather large box of goodies. You are probably assuming that I received fabrics and quilting supplies ...nope. Our brand new Canon Rebel XTi arrived and needless to say I have been snapping A LOT of pictures. These six are just a few images from my yard that tell me fall is fast approaching! Wild grass, sunflowers, apples, the bottom left is a picture of a humming bird, pumpkin and a bumble bee. I take a lot of pictures...and now with this awesome camera....I will be taking EVEN more and just wait till Myra gets her hands on it!! So you can expect to see a lot more pictures on our blog.

Happy long week-end:)

~Cori

Cover Girl
No not Myra or myself but our quilt has made the cover of Quilts and more!
Many months ago we were asked to submit some designs to Jill, the editor of Quilts and more, using RJR fabrics, So you sew fun too! collection. This was one of those moments were Myra and I needed to "step out of the box". This collection was bolder and brighter than we had ever worked with before. But...you know what, it has made us turn a corner in our designing process AND as it turns out "Exclamation" is one of our favorite quilts!! So we made the quilt and sent it on it's way...then Jill called and asked if we could design some coordinating pillows. You will see those pillows inside the magazine. (I can't give away all the secrets - run out and buy a copy!)

Don't be scared to try something new...I can say that...we did it and it turned out to be a great experience, a new page in our career. We have been in something like 14-15 magazines, but never a cover. Some of you have emailed us already to send congrats our way and many thanks for that.

Today I am working on the next project for Quilts and more using our Cape Cod collection, it doesn't have a definite name yet, but I can say it's pretty and soft. Simplicity has kind of been our thing lately. I will sneak a picture of it when it's a little more complete.

~Cori

Look...

what came today! So excitting to get our cuts of fabrics to make Seven quilts all using our Cape Cod fabric collection. Three are for patterns by blue meadow designs, Three others for magazines, and One for our retreat!

We will post our patterns really soon. I hope you are excitted and the fabrics and patterns will be in our shop in October!

~Cori

a little bit different

I had been wanting to do a layout with our fabrics for sometime and well when there is so much work to do it is hard to just play. Yesterday was the day I decided, work would have to wait a bit! I went through my scrap basket, fired up the sewing machine and away I went.

I made this 12" x 12"layout using 5- 2" x 11" strips of bohemian Rhapsody fabrics, zig zag stitched around each strip, then I layered a 4" x 12" piece overtop and staight stitched on the top and bottom of this piece. I took a 5" x 7" sepia tone photo, chipboard embelishments (which I painted to match), buttons and a personlized journaling block to layer on top of the fabrics and "ta da" my first fabric /scrapbook layout. Not rocket science I know, but I am very pleased with the results. It was a lot of fun playing again too. You should try it.

We also have a project coming out in Quilts and more this fall that is not a quilt, but an interesting spin on a desk calendar.

What types of non-quilt items have you embelished with fabrics? I am working on a new design to re-cover and embelish a chipboard album. Hope you enjoyed this tidbit of inspiration.
~cori

Cruising to Alaska!

We're going to Alaska!!! Do you want to come too? We got a very exciting phone call a few weeks ago, inviting us to teach aboard a cruise ship that travels along the coast to Alaska. What an amazing invitation. We still had a lot of questions, and details to figure out, so we didn't talk about this great opportunity too much, but now that everything is in line...we want everyone to know.

The above photo is the ship 'Serenade of the Seas' and it will be the cruise liner that we will be teaching on. There is more information about the date, the schedule, and the ship under our 'events' page. We have met a wonderful lady named Wendy Smith, who has experience organizing these quilting/cruising events, and she will be taking care of all of the details for our trip as well. Her name and information is also found on the 'events' page, so please feel free to contact her with any additional questions that you may have. We won't be leaving port until next August, but all of the spots to be part of the class will probably be filled by December.

Getting out to new places, and meeting other quilters is the best part of what we do. This last week, Cori and I had a few days of being bogged down by many small tasks, and bookwork, and when we needed a boost, we would just start talking about our upcoming retreat. We are almost to the point where we will start counting down the days. I keep reading over the list of women who are coming, and I can hardly wait to see them again...and to meet the new names who made it in this year.

So, we will be seeing many of you soon! Take care until then.

-myra

More news!




For the quilt related news...check out Quiltmaker. We designed this quilt for RJR fabrics So You sew fun too! collection. This design lends itself to all the beautiful, big and bold prints that are so popular. So don't be scared to buy them, they aren't as hard to use as you think -


just keep the quilt design simple.
Now for the personal news. As you can see this kids are doing okay. This picture was taken last saturday at our local Harvest Festival parade. The kids are adjusting well to their casts and Kierra to her crutches. But when I said I needed a "break" this was not what I had in mind!! :) Thanks for all of the well wishes either on the blog or via my personal email, greatly appreciated. Here's to better luck and a great fall!

~Cori

Deep End of the Ocean

I had to post a blog today, because we not only share our good days with you, but also our bad. And Cori had a really, really BAD weekend.

I will keep it short and sweet, and only post the bare facts. During the weekend, her daughter was jumping on the trampoline, and broke her ankle. After many long hours in the hospital, her daughter was home with a cast and crutches.

The very next day, her son has a simple fall on the backyard slide, and breaks his arm between his sholder, and his elbow. Cori spent 6 hours with him in the hospital while they tried to figure out how to cast this very difficult break.

It will mean a whole new routine at Cori's house for the next few weeks, as both children will need her help. However, I am confident that if anyone can organize, and make a plan of attack on how to handle these circumstance, it is Cori. It just means that her full plate, just got a little fuller.

So her weekend was miserable, and then she calls me today (monday) with more news.....the dog died. I could not make up a story as sad as what this one really is. Unfortunatly I started laughing. Not because I thought it was funny, but because her life now sounded like a country western song. But take this as a compliement Cori - because God does not give us more than we can handle - so apparently you can handle a lot!

So for this entry, I went through some of our old photo's, and I found this one. It was three years ago this month that we first flew to L.A. to meet RJR. And during that exciting and overwhelming trip, we had a chance to walk down to the beach, where we stood in the soft sand, and had a peaceful day out by the ocean.

And so Cori, I pray that your days will get better, and truly be filled with some great surprises. And when you need me, you know the number.

myra.

Trends
Let it be known that I am a Home Decorating Magazine junky! I have a really hard time not picking up a magazine when I am waiting in line at the grocery store. So yesterday I picked up Canadian House & Home, I must admit this has not been one of my favorites... until recently. It's Canadian so I thought I should give it a chance and I am so glad that I did! This is the latest issue on stands now and what might you suppose drew me to this issue? "Quilts + coverlets Roundup" was on the cover and as I flipped through the pages I saw exactly that and not just one article but many. So here I am today sharing my find and inspiration.
The article "Quilt Trip" really made an impact on me "The recent trend toward handcrafted design gives quilts and coverlets fresh cachet." and I said "AMEN sister!" This has always been our goal when designing quilts and fabric, how can we bring quilting mainstream? Quilts need to be a part of everyday life & home decorating. They need to be accessible to people who wouldn't normally walk into a quilt shop. Myra and I interpret the trends in such magazines when we design our fabric collections. We take these trends and create fabrics that transition between traditional and modern, like I said the other day "contemporary".
The other thing I find interesting in this article is two words "Pale Pastels" another thing you will find in our Cape Cod collection, coming soon. I hope you find this information helpful and as interesting as I do. Whether your quilts are antique or modern in style incorporate them into your everyday.

Cori