Let's talk Quilts....

First of all, thank you so much for all the wonderfully supportive emails about this magazine feature. Heck after I answer the questions and send in the pics, they may decide I am the most dull human in the world and want nothing to do with me. Who knows? It could happen. But thank you ladies so much!

OK, the flood gates are not even open yet and already my email is crazy....I wonder how I am going to do this bag slot thing? I have been looking through my orders and the traffic by ladies on my wait list, most of you are return customers....I would say about 1/3 of you are return customers. Seems I send you your order and you are already back in line for more. I love it! Thank you so much for your support! I am "mind wrestling" the bag slot issue, it will be all set tomorrow, my wait list invite will go out and then on Saturday I will have them ready to have. I think I will do it through www.etsy.com this time. SO have your profiles all set and ready. Last time I opened My slots were gone in about 6 minutes. I am not bragging, I am just preparing you.



Onto a different topic, let's talk quilts. I think I will open for 4 quilts this Christmas. The prices will not be what is on my website. Those prices are for VERY SIMPLE WHOLE CLOTH quilts. I just can't get into the Admin site to edit that. So if you want a more complicated quilt for your mother in law for Christmas or a gift to you and your mate tack about $200 onto the base price on the website. I can't do things the simple way, everything I touch has to be complicated and detailed, but that is the way I like it, I guess. I have been doing it that way for 30 years. I really didn't do that much before I turned 4, so we won't count those years.

Let's discuss what makes a great heirloom quilt. Now this is just my humble opinion. I am not the boss of the world, so there are lots of other people who like cheap and easy, I am not in charge of those guys. I like lasting quality. I use Quilter's Dream Cotton batting for the middle layer of the quilt. That is the big roll of white stuff in the picture above. It is ALL 100% wonderful soft cotton. Not a bit of polyester in it. Who wants to snuggle up with a plastic blanket? NOT ME. And I am going to assume that you don't want to either. SO I use that for the middle.... It costs more, but you are worth it.

For the top, I use fabric....duh. But the fabric I use is pretty great too. You can send me bits of your children's clothes to use in some of the blocks, let me know what colors you like and we will design a pallet just for you, utilizing my hand picked...ripe and ready prints and solids here in my studio.

What "pattern" would I use...well I am not a big pattern girl. I do however love to be inspired by 2 different quilt designers Denyse Schmidt and Fun quilts. Look at their sites so you can get your bearings and we (you and I) will design something just for your unique desires.

I quilt each quilt freehand with my Bernina sewing machine. Basically I draw with thread (100% long staple cotton thread) all over the quilt. I can do numerous styles: lines, swirls, zig zags, scales, waves....heck I have "drawn" pictures on quilts....the sky and your imagination are the limits.


Now the Back of the quilt I want to be just as interesting as the front. So, Hey, you get to have a 2 for 1. What a deal!

Also 40% of my quilt commissions (just like my Camp Follower Bags) goes back into the pot for my Hero Bag and Hero Quilt Cause.

So there you go...our quilt talk. I have been hiding long enough in here by the computer, now out to settle things down a bit with the bags.