Technical Difficulty

I am sorry for the delay in blogging..but I am having some technical difficulty with my computer. I think it is time that it went to the doctors. I will have to deal with that next week. And I am disappointed at all the things that I wanted to share - but I can't, because I am unable to download all of my pictures. I have been carefully documenting my progress on the Ocean Waves quilt, and I wanted to share it all with you. But, I guess you will have to wait just a little longer.

Now, to all of you who are concerned that I am starting a career in the meat packing industry, you don't need to worry. As it turns out, all of the volunteer possitions were filled last week, and I wasn't needed after all. I am sorry that I couldn't help, but I am very touched, becasue it ment that so many others were willing to help. So for all of you who have e-mailed me, I will clarify what the 'canning' truck was all about. Yes-it is a portable meat canning truck that goes to various communittes, and cans meat. It is highly inspected by both Canadian and American agencies, and after the cans have been in a 'quarentine' for 3 months, they will be shipped overseas. How do I help? Trust me, the only part that I am qualified to help with is rinsing the packed cans, and applying lables! But I do like to help. And I would encourage everyone - that at this time of year when we freely give donations to worthy charities, why not give some of your time instead? It is just as important.

So I wanted to say THANK YOU to all the volunteers who helped us this year. 11,000 can of pork meat will be sent to orphanages in North Korea, and the rest will be sent to Haiti.

So what is up with this picture?

It's my daughter, and everytime I pull out my suitcase, she know's I am going somewhere again...and she always tries to sneek along. By now it is a little joke between us. So where am I going? Well, this weekend Cori and I have been invited to the 'uber-exclusive' Bernina retreat in Chicago. There are two different sessions, and a very small group of deligates are invited to the event. We got the invite through a friend who is 'on the list'. It is hard not telling you who will all be there, because these are THE TOP designers in the industry. I don't want to breach anyone's privicy by revealing that they will be here. However....you might want to check back after the week when I could share who was there. We will be back in the middle of next week, so make sure you check back.

-myra

International Weekend

Today is one of those days when I am over tired, but very inspired. Yesterday (Sunday) turned out to be a day full of new friends, old friends, and pizza. I knew it was a great day, when I ran out of hangers for coats in my guest closet.

It started with meeting the 'canners' who are in town. We had lunch with these three young guys who are staying at my parents house this week while they are here with the MCC meat canning truck. They came down to our place for the afternoon...partly so they could all get onto the internet with their own computers. So, Eric is from Pennsylvania (10 miles from where I use to live!) and Josh is from Kansas, and Viktor is from Germany. It was cool watching him and his family speak back and forth through their web cams. A short time later, other friends came down, with the young man who is living with them this year. His name is Mark, and he is from Paraguay. And later that night, Katherine made it down to our house, and she is from Switzerland. So we had a house full of international friends, and I didn't take a picture of any of them! It shows you how involved I was, because I never remember to stop and take a picture when I am having a great time.

As it turned out, everyone who was here had a connection to MCC. What is MCC you ask? It stands for Mennonite Central Committee, and it is a world wide relief organization. My family has been involved in some manor with MCC since I was born. It is a long story, but it is because of MCC that quilting came into my family, and that has lead me this profession.

So, the meat canning truck comes into Winkler once a year, and will process and can about 22,000 cans of pork. The volunteer crew is lead by these three guys, and together we will all work around the clock from Wednesday to Saturday to finish the canning. This is not an environment that is familiar to me, but I am looking forward to working a shift later on this week. Chances are good that I will end up on the night shift again. I hope that I will remember to bring my camera with me this time, and document my time working in a packing plant.

I am also working on a quit top that I hope to finish this week, which will be donated to the MCC quilting room. I will definatly have pictures of that to share with you soon. I decided to make an Ocean Waves quilt this year, and it has turned out to be a really, really fun project.

So, I will talk to you all again soon!
-myra

Our day trip

Welcome to Oma's quilt shop, a sweet little quilt shop in the country. Myra and I took a little trip today and it was so worth it. Adiena (the shop)owner is full of energy and great ideas and Velma came out to join us as well. Myra and I haven't taken a "just for fun" trip in a long time and you would think being in the quilting industry, we would visit quilt shops regularly, but we don't :(. We are often so busy just doing our thing that we loose touch. We bought some cool fabrics that I can hardly wait to use. This week I have been on a roll, experimenting with fabric and designs and yes, as Myra would put it...my new "obsession" with bias. And yes, I will share photo's really soon.

Velma brought show and tell. She sewed up Rumba this past weekend and was excited to show us and we love seeing our friends and customers using our "stuff". (she also brought fresh pumpkin muffins...mmm good!) This trip to the country brought new inspirations and great times with friends. Thanks ladies for your hospitality and inspiration we had a great time. Oh and I encourage those of you close to Grunthal...it's worth the trip to look up Oma's Quilt shop!
If you don't know were Grunthal is...it's about 15 min. from Steinbach MB!

~cori

as promised by Myra

As Myra stated in the last post, Cori (that's me) would post the cover of Quilts and more, winter 2007 issue. This issue is full of little weekend projects and Save the date is one of those super fun projects - make sure you check it out, oh and give it a try. Make your calendar this weekend! :)

~cori

I forgot to remember.



I came home on the weekend to find another little parcel on my doorstep. I honestly couldn't rember if I had orderd anything. So what could possibly be inside? I ran inside, ripped open the box, and smiled. I had totally forgotten about this project. That's probably because I didn't make it - Cori did. Cori made a few of these as gifts last year for some editors, and other friends. Well, one thing lead to another, and we were asked to make another one for the December issue of Quilts & More. So, if you check your magazine stands, this is now out there! I will see if Cori can scan in the cover, so you know which magazine to look for. I would scan it in for you....but my copy hasn't shown up yet....

-myra

if you liked the baby quilt...how about this one?

This is the kids version of the little lady baby. These patterns are available on our website, http://www.bluemeadowdesigns.com/. I am glad you all enjoy these patterns.

~C

and the WINNERS are..

Thanks ladies for leaving a comment on the blog. I hope you enjoy making your own little lady quilt! For those of you that were too shy or too lazy...there will be more chances to win, very soon. I guess you could say we are feeling generous! Stay tuned and we love to hear from YOU!

~Cori

little lady baby

This quilt was made by Jackie from Ignace ON. She is one of our regular "retreater's". At this years retreat a bunch of the ladies worked on various projects as well as our retreat quilt project. I think that jackie basicly got this quilt done at retreat - and just recently finished machine quilting it. She quilted the lady bug outline over the whole quilt, every which direction, in purple verigated thread- so cute. The picture below is of the back of the quilt, where she added a pop of orange! LOVE IT! Thanks for sharing these pics with all of us.
Great inspiration.

The first 3 people to leave a comment along with a email address will recieve a free little lady pattern! I know your out there...be sure to leave an email, so that I can contact you for your mailing address.

~cori