Day 41-of 100 Days of Quilts

Rumba on the boardwalk

Today we are back to posting quilts. And since it is snowing AGAIN, I am sifting through the files to find another hot quilt. I love this Rumba quilt. And how did we pick that name anyway? Here is a question for you. Do you name your quilts? Why not? Have some fun with that. And don't mearly name them after the pattern that you made it from. Be creative.

Anyhow, the Rumba quilt is simple, and bold. As you can see, it is based on a traditional Courthouse Steps block, but we changed strip widths is some of the blocks, so that the quilt had more interest. We mixed bright colors, and we also made sure that we had a good balance of print sizes. Making this quilt again, and using only large bold prints would give the finished project a completely different look. In fact - since winter isn't ending this year, I just might have time to sew another version.

See you tomorrow.

-myra

Congratulations!

Well, we have picked a winner - congratulations cot10girl (a.k.a. Karen!) We will be sending you a packet of Cori's favorite earth toned prints. The winning name was picked by a non-partisan judge (my husband) so if you have any complaints, please contact Mark.

But we have to say THANK YOU to everyone who left Cori a birthday wish. It was so wonderful reading the comments, and thinking of all of the friends we knew, and wishing we could meet all of the new names on the list. And THANKS Sara for making a big effort, we know that where ever you are in the world, you are flying high, and when you come back we want to hear all of the stories.

Cori would like to add her thanks - and I am sure that she will when she returns. In honor of her big day, she has run away to be with her husband who is working away from home.

AND, for those of you who know us really well, you will know that Cori and I are very close in age. In fact, if I had shown up on my due date, Cori and I would have been born on the same day. Much to my mother's dismay, I was born 3 weeks later. (Cori says I am late for everything) So, keep watching, because in a few weeks, I will be turning 35, and we will give all of you another chance to win more fabrics.

See you tomorrow.

-myra

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CORI!!

Ocean waves
Yes, today is the day that my life long friend becomes a little older. I have been saving this picture, just so I could post it today.

A few months ago (before all of this snow) we spent a day together photographing some of our quilts. We tried several different shots with this Ocean Waves quilt, when I suddenly realized that it needed the human element. So I grabbed the camera, and made Cori stand on the rocks!

So, as I mentioned earlier...today we are giving the birthday gift to you. In honour of Cori turning 35, we have picked 3.5 yards of Cori's favorite fabrics, and we will be sending it out to one lucky viewer. All you have to do is to leave a comment saying 'Happy Birthday Cori' and you will be entered to win! But I am only giving you ONE DAY to leave your comment. I will be picking the winner at midnight tonight. So help me celebrate the day my best friend was born!

See you tomorrow...when I let you know who the winner is.
-Myra

Day 40 - of 100 Days of Quilts

Calypso
Calypso was a project that was designed to use the fabrics from our second fabric collection - bohemian rhapsody. This is a favorite of ours, because it has a different layout than most quilts. Calypso is A-symetrical, with an applique block in the upper right corner, and a vine border twinning down the left, and bottom sides of the quilt. The colors are also very vibrant, and it is definatly a quilt that makes you stop and look.

I wish that you could see the quilting on this project. It was done by a friends of ours who lives in North Dakota. Pam did a great job of creating some background quilting that reflects the applique shapes. It is stunning!

At the beginning of the month, we mentioned that one of us had a birthday coming up....so keep watching, because you will have the chance to win the gift.

See you tomorrow.
-Myra

Sorry

Annette made a comment that there was NO place to make a comment on the last post! It was brought to our attention that there are some 'not so nice people' are leaving spam like comments. If you see a post that says click here....DON'T!! That is why on some posts we don't allow you to see those nasty posts! Leave comments wherever you can, We LOVE them!

~cori

Day 39 - of 100 Days of Quilts

Main St - from Down In The Valley

This has always been an old favorite of mine. When I first learned to paper piece, I started creating houses. My first 'house hanging' (is still un-quilted) was a row of houses that is about 5" tall, and 7 feet long. I just couldn't stop adding houses and trees to the little village I was creating.

Cori and I have always shared an excitement over houses, and interior design, so she understood how I kept making more houses, and that my villages kept growning. The above quilt reflects character houses that could be found in a small quaint town. It was fun and challenging to come up with new buildings. Some quilters feel that the buildings are too small, but they were created to fit on to a 7" x 9" book page. Several years ago, I made Christmas hangings for my Grandmothers, and I used the center 5 houses from this hanging, but I increased the size 150% from the original. It worked out great. So don't be intimidated by the small pieces in the Church windows, just enlarge the building until it is at a size that you feel more comfortable with.

See you tomorrow.

-myra

Looking ahead

Here are six fabrics from our completely kids collection! This is one of the 'girl' palettes there are two more. Starting at the top left is "Daisy, sidewalk chalk, gum drops, scratches, backsplash and scratches" again. The very first strike offs should be arriving early next week and I just can not wait to get my hands into it. The quilts are designed and patterns are written and again...the possibilities are endless. If you have teenagers, kids or babies there is something for everyone. If you receive our newsletter then you will recall seeing a color way for our resent Amish Bars - easy quilts by Fon's and Porter, and how we recolored that project using completely kids! Maybe I should share that with all of you.

It seems that Myra and I have a thing for "baby/kids" quilts. When we were having babies we couldn't even think of a baby quilt design and now....endless ideas. I just jotted down at least a dozen or so new ones just the other day!!

But girls isn't the only thing in this collection...I will share a boy palette with you really soon. Have a great week-end and I hope I have you thinking about what you might do with this fabric.

~cori

Day 38 - of 100 Days of Quilts

Marking Milestones
This is one of my personal quilts that I LOVE, and I hate. There really is so much about this quilt that I do love, because it was started as a labour of love. I wanted to make a personal quilt for myself from some of the fabrics from our first fabric collection - Love Joy Peace. And I chose this block, because I really did want to make a quilt using templates, and I was looking for a finished quilt that would be a little nostalgic. I also chose to run the blocks right to the edge of the quilt, and not add any borders. I like this look becasue the quilt has a very clean finished feel to it.

So in the few, little free moments that I would find, I began to trace and cut out all of my template pieces, and put them into neat stacks. I enjoyed this leasure pace of cutting, and sewing, and playing around with the colors. Then, we got a phone call. It was 'Quilts' the magazine, and they loved the fabric line, and were wondering if we had an extra project. Well....I had started one....

Long story short - I quickly finished the piecing, and the quilting, which is why I don't totally like this quilt. I had time to do the basic quilting, but I never had time to add the extra quilting I would like to do, and, on the back of the quilt are all the long quilting threads that still need to be trimmed! And for those of you who know me...I have never found the time to go back and finish the detail on this quilt, because I am always moving forward on to new and more exciting projects.

The magazine picked the name 'Marking Milestones' for this project, but in my mind, the name didn't fit. Well, last year I had the rare chance of meeting another Myra, and her last name is Milestone! So, in my mind, this is now the Myra Milestone quilt....and that just feels right. Maybe if I name it after her she will finish trimming all those threads for me.

And this is a quilt that would look stunning in so many different color combinations. Cori has colored it in many other fabrics, and they all look great. So I also want to challenge you to someday pick a project that may not get done at a fast pace, but where you have a chance to really enjoy the journey.

See you tomorrow.

-myra

Day 37 - of 100 Days of Quilts

Rubber Ducky

Surprise! I am posting this before I go to bed, so that all of you on the East Coast will have a new quilt waiting for you in the morning.

Today I am breaking the rules, and being a rebel. I am breaking the rules, because I am posting a picture of a quilt that isn't even finished, and I am being a rebel, because I didn't ask Cori for permission.

But I had to choose this little quilt, because it fits in perfectly with the neighbourhood news. Last week I got the much anticipated phone call. The awesome neighbours across the street are going to be grandparents!! I have given them a week to tell everyone, and now I am posting it for the world to know. I am so happy for them, that they are now starting on this next phase of their lives, but they both look way to young to be grandparents. Does this mean that they are going to park the Harley Davidson? I hope they know that I am always willing to take it out for a drive to keep it running properly. (OH NO! I just had another shocking thought - will this new arrival delay the hot-tub project? I will promise to make the baby quilt, as long as they don't have to cut out their hot-tub plans.) Of course I am only joking about the silly stuff, the real fun will be dreaming up and designing more baby quilts. So, let me officially congratulate the Reynolds and the Neufelds, and say that we are all very excited for them.

And why have I only shown you a small corner of this rubber ducky quilt? Because I am a little unsure of the other part. This will be my version of the ducky quilt, but Cori is planning on using the same applique shapes, but creating a quilt with a completely different look. So keep watching, someday we will work out all of the kinks, and reveal the complete project.

See you tomorrow.

-myra

Day 36 - of 100 Days of Quilts

Shades of Spring - American Patchwork & Quilting spring issue, 2008

Sometimes there are good things in the mail. We just got our latest copy of APQ, and flipped it open to a quilt that we did for them last fall. Of course we knew the quilt would be in the spring issue, but they needed the quilts to be in 'the office' a few months ahead of schedule, so they can come up with great locations for the photography.

Once again, we did collaborate with the editors. They were looking for a variation on the Lone Star. hummm..... how could we do a different Lone Star? Well, there's nothing like a new challenge.

And I am keeping my eyes on the mailbox for one more magazine. I believe that the next issue of Quilts & More will have another of our projects.

I always try to get 2 copies of every issue that we have a quilt in, so that someday I can pass along one copy to each of my children. And from the looks of my bookshelf, they will both be getting a lot of quilting magazines. A few years ago I was trying to chase my son into bed, when I found him downstairs looking through all of my books. I asked him what he was doing. He said "I am reading my favorite books...they are the one's that you write." Now I knew he was stalling going to bed by trying to get on my good side. But I wasn't buying it. No four year old boy wants to read quilting books. So I just smiled, picked him up, and told him that someday all of those books would be his, and when he learns to read, he can spend every night leaning about piecing and binding. Funny thing...he has never touched those books since.

See you tomorrow.
-myra

Day 35 - of 100 Days of Quilts
Autumn signs

What quilt will I pick today....that is always the question. This was a new quilt that we added to our collection this year, and I really like it. You would have seen it for the first time a few months ago, when it appeared in McCall's Quick Quilts.

And here is another story about editors. We met with Beth Hays at a quilt market (and I can't remember which one!) and she wanted a quilt that had a few specifics elements in it, and asked if we would be able to design one for her. Sure, why not? We love getting challenges. Beth was looking for a lap size project, done using RJR flannels, and it was to be masculine, with a fall feeling to it. And since it was going to be in Quick Quilts, it was not suppose to be overly ornate or time consuming.

I don't remember how Cori and I started with this layout, but I really did love the end result. I think it met all of Beth's requirements, and it has a unique look to it. It is also a quilt that you can play around with and change. Don't like the large leaves? Why not use tree's and bears for a rustic look. OR, why not use some of those amazing Japanese prints for the backgrounds, and change the leaves to Koi fish? Now that is an idea that I would like to play around with....

And in case you didn't get the lastest newsletter that Cori sent out this past week (just add you name to the mailing list, and you will get it!) We will be releasing this design as a seperate quilt pattern in the next month or two.

See you tomorrow!

-myra

Day 34 - of 100 Days of Quilts

Down in the Valley

We are back to some of our earlier projects. Cori did a really great job of photographing some of these small quilts, and suddenly, I like them again. This little paper pieced project was a lot of fun, because of the stories that we invented to go along with each house. We invented an entire hillbilly family that lived in each of these little shacks.

I also remember making the decision that the backgrounds to the houses in this chapter would all have a dark background. Why not try different colors, the sky isn't always blue.

And it always seems that as soon as I finish a project, I think about how I would do it again - but differently. Cori knows that I have a sketch to make a large hanging, incorporating all of the shacks, and a village. But this is just one sketch of hundreds that I someday plan on making, so don't expect to see it anytime soon.....but maybe one day....

-myra

Day 33 - of 100 Days of Quilts

Completely Kids - coming soon!

I thought that I would share a proto-type for our next collection. This turtle is going to be seen a lot in just a few months. Isn't he cute? We have designed 6 or so quilts using the fabric collection. This collection gets broken down into two minor collections, one girl (daisy) and one boy (turtle). Stay tuned for more sneak peeks of the new fabrics!

-cori

Day 32 - 100 days of Quilts

Love Joy Peace Pillows - Love Joy Peace quilted projects for all of life's special moments

These pillows are from our Love Joy Peace fabric collection. We designed those projects for special moments in a woman's life; college, wedding, decorating a home & of course baby! The colors were soft and easy and so where the projects. The projects featured appliuqe words, momograms and other elements. I still love these projects - hope you do too!
~cori

Happy Valentine's Day...
and Happy Anniversary to
blue meadow designs!




I hope you all feel very loved and appreciated today by all the special people in your lives on thisValentine's day!

It was eleven years ago that Myra and I started our pattern company
under the name the "Moonshyne Collection" and later we
became blue meadow designs!

~cori

Day 31 - of 100 Days of Quilt

School House - Traditional Quilts to paper piece



Here is our little red school house quilt! Cori and I both like buildings, and we have always liked the traditional school house block, so we wanted to design a small project with this block for one of our books. But what were we going to put with the house block? A tree block? A pieced block? An open block? We decided to be different again, and we made a simple fence with a star on top. I like the quaintness of it all, but it would be fun to play around with colors again. I could see this project done with a dark background, and a cream colored picket fence. What colors would you choose?

And we have to say Thanks again to Laura for stitching this one up for us. Without good friends, we would still be writting book #2.

-myra

Day 30 - of 100 Days of Quilts

Amish Wedding - Traditional Quilts to paper piece

Now this is a quilt that I have not seen in a very long time. But right now I am feeling a close connection to it. It was one of the projects from our 3rd book, and we really needed help from friends to finish all of the quilts on time. Another small secret - we were sent two contracts, and so we were righting book #3 and #4 at the same time. No problem, we could handle that. Well, on top of the three children we already had, I was pregnant. No problem, I could handle that. Until I became one of those special people who had morning sickness day and night for 9 months. Suddenly, there was a lot I couldn't handle.

So why do I feel a special connection to this quilt? Because while Cori was enjoying all of the festivities in town this weekend, I was lying here feeling like I did back when we did this quilt. Nope, I am not pregnant, but this past week my daughter and I both came down with Croup. And the worst part of lying in bed sick, is thinking of all the things you have to do, and all the things you want to do. I have a fresh stack of quilt tops in my studio that I am itching to start on...and I kept thinking about them all weekend.

When Cori and I design projects, we want to jump in and get our hands on them as fast as we can. It can be hard to hand your idea's over to someone else, and let them get to see the quilt develop. But to meet all of our deadlines, we called upon some of our good friends who live a little west of here. Bev and Laura are great friends, who have amazing quilting skills. Bev pieced this little quilt, and Laura pieced a little school house...which I think I will show you tomorrow.

-myra

Day 29 - 100 days of quilts

Mountain Hollow - Down in the Valley

I have really re-discoverd some of our older projects. So often Myra and I are on such a tight time schedual that we just move forward and don't take or have the time to enjoy were we are right now. When we wrote Down in the Valley, I had a three month old baby and Myra was pregnant with her first. We wrote four books in four years and had four children (2 each). And I can't say that it has slowed down at all!

Mountain Hollow was a fun chapter, everything is crocked (on purpose) it was supposed to be a "Hillbillish" kind of look. (that's not politically correct, but I mean NO disrespect) The other thing that came to my attention when I took this picture was this was back in the day were using fabric collections was not a popular thing. Quilter's just chose fabrics that worked in their projects regardless of who designed it - picking fabrics that they just loved! Have you made a project lately that just used fabrics and not a collection? DO IT...it's freeing. (Some of our next projects do just that!!) Back to the project at hand...the top block is the old fashioned school house and fence, then the center of this wall hanging is the church (that was not by accident either.) the bottom block is a homestead, house, shed and outhouse. We picked a plaid for the borders and black sashing to frame each setting. Look into some of your old patterns and books and see how you can re-create some of those projects! Have fun. Stay warm.
~cori

Hockey day in Winkler continues...

This is as close as we got to seeing Don Cherry and Ron MacLean!

(cardboard cut outs!)

I received this email this morning, thought I would share.

"I just wanted to let you know that I picked up the Fons & Porter Easy Quilts magazine this past week. I'm in SC - so just wanted to let you know they are on the stands now. I loved the quilt and the softness of the colors and especially how easy it is to put together. Thanks for the 100 days of quilting. It's very inspiring. I have the Love, Joy, Peace book and have done a few of the baby quilts; but am trying to get inspired to do some applique.
I was so excited to see your son in his hockey gear this morning that I had to call my son upstairs to look at his picture. My son is 11 and is taking hockey lessons too. Yes, we have an ice rink in SC!! He couldn't believe he'd see something hockey on a quilting site.
Thanks again for your pictures and inspiration. God bless!"

These are my kids with their Uncle Eric (bmd webmaster!) with the stanley cup!

CBC interviewed some of our players after our game on Saturday and Lane's interview was aired on TV

- our 5seconds of FAME!

All of the Timbits got medals after their games and Lane hasn't taken it off since, very excitted!

We had a great day and it wasn't over yet...in the evening we watched Randy play the flyers alumni game.

The kids made a sign to cheer on their daddy, #18!

Well on Monday we will get back to the quilts! I promise.

~cori

Hockey Day in Winkler!
Here are a few hockey pictures that I promised. I am a very proud hockey mom and this weekend is an extra specail one here in Winkler! We are hosting Hockey Day in Canada, with all the celebraties and tons of excittment. The top picture is our son, this is his first year in Hockey and they got to play during the intermission of the kick off game, featuring two local teams in the SEMHL.

No I did not take the next picture...this was emailed to all of the minor hockey parents. Don is wearing our local MJHL Winkler Flyers Jersey and Ron is wearing the official Hockey day in Canada T-shirt.

Next Picture is a very important one to our community. Dustin Penner #27 of the Edmonton Oilers is our Home town boy and they had a special ceremony in his Honor at yesterdays game, and he dropped the cerimonal puck and they raised his High school Jersey. My Brother is the announcer at the hockey games and yesterday was no exception so my kids being BIG Edmonton Oilers fans they brought their mini sticks and Uncle Cal got Dustin to Autograph them for his favorite niece and nephew. Yes I belong to a Hockey family and it seams my kids are going in that direction too!

My husband has played his share of hockey and on Saturday evening He will be participating too! He has been invited to play with the Flyers Alumni vs. Winnipeg Jets Alumni. I am sure I will get a few more pictures then!

Some of the celebrities include Don Cherry, Ron MacLean, Cassie Campbell, Wendall Clark, Kelly Hrudey, Scott Morrison and of course the Stanley Cup. This is the second time the Stanley Cup has been in Winkler. Before Dustin was an Edminton Oiler he was on the Anhiem Ducks who won the Stanley Cup, So Dustin got to have the cup for 24 hours and he brought it home to Winkler.

You can go to www.hockeydayinwinkler.com for more stuff about our big day.

Oh and when you drive up to the Winkler Arena, you will be greated by two 10 foot snow sculptures made by a local artist - 2 hockey players facing off.

Well if you are wondering what we are up to this weekend...we will be at the
Winkler arena!

~cori

Day 28 - 100 Days of Quilts

Sign of Winter - Four Season's of quilts

THis morning we awoke to a light duting of fresh snow on the ground and that inspired me to look for a "Wintery" project!

This little project is from our Four Season's of quilts book. It is 14" x 9" and it is on a stretcher bar frame. We designed a "sign" for each season - making them nice little pieces of art.

This project is HAND appliuqed as well as a touch of hand embroidery. If you have never tried hand applique before this is the perfect little project to try.

Well the weather forecast is for more snow, wind and zero visablily so this is the perfect day to stay inside and work on a quilt project (as for me...I will be editing more patterns!)

It is also a really big week-end in Winkler and if you are a hockey fan you will be interested! I will post the pictures and story behind that in a little while.

Happy Winter!
~cori

Day 27 - 100 Days of Quilts

Cabin in the woods

This was one of my favorite projects back when we did the Down in the Valley book in '99/2000.

The Down in the Valley book had four chapters and this chapter was titled Cabin Country. The Down in the Valley book is all paper piecing patterns, something that we have always enjoyed. And the best part is that this wall hanging can be done in a day or two. The country charm of this project & warm colors kind of makes me think of a cottage in the winter time. No I don't own a cottage, but I live on a little acreage in the country and somedays...I would like nothing more than to not leave the house or answer the phone and pretend it' is my cottage! So, maybe by adding this little hanging to your wall you can imagine that you have a cottage of your own deep in the woods too.

So what's so great about paper pieceing? It's fast and accurate and if you can count to 10 you can do it - it is kinda like painting by number! I hadn't paper pieced in a long while but last week I found myself craving for it and so that's what I did, found a project from a past book, tweaked it a little (surprise, surprise) found some fun fabrics (a few of ours of course) and away I went. I sent it to my friend Karen this week and told her to "have at it" (that means she could quilt it anyway she liked!) I can hardly wait to see what she does with it.

If you have never paper pieced before - I challenge you to try it and if you haven't paper pieced in a long time...pick a project and go for it - it's actually a little relaxing too.

Thanks for listening,

~cori

Day 26 - of 100 days of Quilts

Amish Bars - Easy Quilts by Fons & Porter - Spring 2008

Today I am totally cheating on picking a project to post. I am simply picking the newest one! A few days ago we got our copy of Easy Quilts, which is a new publication by Fons & Porter. We made a fast and fun quilt based on the simple Amish Bars block, but we did it using soft prints instead of solids. I really do like the gentle feel of the finished quilt. The fabrics were all from our last line - Cape Cod by RJR fabrics, and the magazine is on news stands now!

Here is a little more insight into working with a magazine. When we proposed the quilt, and met with the editors, they looked at our complete fabric line, and decided which color palette they wanted the project to be done in. An editor has to carefully balance many things when compiling an issue. They have to have projects of every size, skill level, and color combination. When they looked at our fabric line, they could have made bolder choices, but they felt this colorway would be different from the other projects.

I agree with their choice, and once again, they knew how to pick the right setting to compliment the quilt.

This is just the first issue in 2008 with one of our projects. Keep you eyes open for more projects in the upcoming issues of American Patchwork & Quilting, and Quilts & More. In fact, if any of you see our projects, please let us know. It seems that the magazines are available in the US a week or two before we get them up here in Canada.

-myra

Day 25 - of 100 days of Quilts

Our design - but sadly, not our quilt -retreat '07

This quilt does not belong to us, however it is our design. This lovely quilt belongs to Joan, one of our retreat students. It was an exclusive design for our retreat students (that is one of the perks!) In fall of 2007 we offered this quilt in a pieced version as well as the applique version...this is the applique. The center is paper pieced, which is something that we really like. Of course Joan added her special touch by adding extra color as well as the butterflies - love all those special touches that make this hers! We had made kits for our students and they got to choose between four different colorways. This quilt started out as the black, Ivory and teal kit and the splashes of color are awesome.

The fabrics in the quilt were from our Bohemain Rhapsody collection. (this was the "Ocean" color palette)

So there you have it...Even if you by a quilt kit, you can make it uniquely yours by adding or changing the colors. Think outside of the box and enjoy the ride!

~cori