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Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Cheddar & Friends Arriving Soon!!

It won't be long now until my new collection of Cheddar & Friends prints will be arriving at your local quilt shop!  It's very exciting as it has been very well received....and I thank you all so much.  Above are the six shades of cheddar in the collection....some are bright, and some have a more fall, pumpkin look to them.  

Here are the six shades of browny taupe fabrics.  This color is very hard to find and I can't wait to get my hands on it.  I hope you feel the same way, too!

Remember to always check with your local quilt shop to see if they have the fabric coming, and let them know you're interested.  Please....support your local quilt shop!

If you can't find it locally, you can order it from my website.  I will have a very limited amount of bundles and they are 15% off if you pre-order!  

There are Fat Quarter bundles of the entire Cheddar & Friends collection....so both the cheddar and taupe prints.  

Or, you can order just the cheddars....or just the taupes!

Click here to see the bundle details and place your order today.  Your Cheddar & Friends order will ship sometime in Mid-March once the fabric arrives.  

My recovery is slow but headed in the right direction.  Fatigue is my biggest complaint, and I hear over and over again how normal it is.  It's not normal for me, though, and I have little patience as I'd rather be much busier, but.....the body needs the rest I guess, so rest it shall have.  Thanks so much for your kind and cheerful emails and messages!  Does me lots of good!

Monday, January 23, 2017

A Bump In The Road To Recovery

Dear Friends,

I was recently admitted into the hospital for emergency surgery.  Third surgery in 15 weeks.  Ugh!  Despite state-of-the-art conditions to guard against staff infection, I was the one in a thousand, rare case who developed a deep and serious infection in my just-replaced hip.   One week in the hospital and I'm now home for recovery......again!  Is this Groundhog Day?

While this event and surgery has really knocked me for a loop, I am grateful it wasn't worse,  that my surgeon and his wonderful nursing staff caught it so quickly, that we have such great hospitals here in Chicagoland, that all my doctors came together with a plan, and I received extraordinary care from the hospital nurses, who are the un-sung angels in health care.

So...here we go again, but a little different this time.  It's gonna take a little longer to snap back from this one, but I'm already doing fairly well.  My husband, son and daughter are taking very good care of me....my biggest blessing of all.

I didn't want you to think I forgot about you!  So...the reason for the short update.

As the old saying goes....this, too, shall pass.  


Saturday, January 7, 2017

Sew Some Wild Oaks

Huckleberry Hill by Lynn Wilder of Sew'n Wild Oaks Designs (c) 2017
When I design fabric, 80% of the time, I already have the quilt designed for the collection and therefore, a specific picture is cemented in my mind of what I'll do with it.  Usually, I do make several other things with the collection, but after that, I've moved on to the next new thing.  

So, I am just delighted when I receive photos of what another designer is inspired to create with some of my fabric,  and so goes the story of the photo above.  This absolutely stunning basket is the creation of a very talented quilt designer, Lynn Wilder of California.  I had the pleasure of meeting Lynn at Spring Market last year after becoming smitten with one of her quilts that was hanging in the Marcus Fabrics booth.  
(Lynn's quilt, Heritage, is the quilt furthest to the left in the photo.)

She wanted to share what she is doing with my Star Spangled Liberty fabric and sent me these two photos.  Isn't it clever to use Log Cabin blocks like this?  And the ribbon border for the basket weave at the top?  And the bow is to die for!


Huckelberry Hill by Lynn Wilder of Sew'n Wild Oaks Designs (c) 2017
Here's an upclose photo of the basket rim and applique details.  I see some prints in there from Old Green Calicos and the little leaves with the berries are from Conestoga Crossing as well.

The basket blocks you see are for Lynn's new upcoming pattern called Huckleberry Hill.  Lynn plans to make two red and two blue baskets for her quilt.  I can't wait to see it all finished.  She also writes a fun, informative and inspiring blog I think you'll enjoy.  Click here for her blog.  Her pattern company is called Sew'n Wild Oaks.

I've seen sneak peeks at several of Lynn's upcoming projects that she's making with on of my future fabric lines, and let me tell you......DIVINE!

Enjoy reading Lynn's blog and perusing her pattern selections.  She's a very sweet and friendly lady, too!  

Wednesday, January 4, 2017

New Inspirations for the New Year

Can you believe the holidays are over and we're into a new year?  I'm working on completing some leftover projects from last year and ready to begin some new ones.  The New Year always brings that feeling of 'fresh start' to so many aspects of our lives.


I found this antique cheddar quilt on Pinterest over the weekend and I thought it was a good example of cheddar and taupe together.  I know these are likely brown fabrics, and some that might have faded to a taupe color, but you get my drift.  How do you like that splash of blue? Make-do?  Interesting color combo, interesting borders on the bottom and right, and quite pleasing.  Just wanted to share it with you and remind you of my upcoming Cheddar & Friends fabric collection due in your local quilt shop early in March.  


Speaking of your local quilt shop, have you noticed the alarming trend of so many of our fabulous local quilt shops closing? I know I have and it's ominous.  Last week, Barbara Brackman wrote about this very thing on her blog in sad detail.  Actually, she wrote two posts about it.  

If you love this industry.....if you love fabric.....and want to continue to be inspired by your favorite designers, please take a moment to read what she wrote.  Here are the links to both of Barbara's blog posts:

http://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2016/12/happy-new-year.html

http://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2016/12/more-about-quilt-bizz.html

It's simple economics.  Having less quilt shops means less sales of fabric bolts, patterns, books, and notions, not to mention jobs and inspiration!  When this many quilt shops close, it has a profound effect on the industry.  There have already been cut-backs in so many areas and some designers are going out of business.  Why?  Lots of reasons, but so much has to do with folks not patronizing brick and mortar shops.

When there are new fabrics coming that you love and want to purchase, I encourage you to please ask for it at your local quilt shop.  If they know you want it and there's a customer base for it, they would be more likely to order it.  In my case, I do offer my own fabric via my website for those who can't find it at their local shop, but I always encourage you to check there first!!

Anyway....I'll get off my soapbox now.  Thanks for listening to an issue very near and dear to all of us who love quilting and want to keep it going.  

There are many new things for your quilting pleasure already in the works.  I presently have four new fabric lines in production with lots of new quilt designs coming your way.  And....a very fun Marcus Fabrics designers (aka Marcus Makers) campaign to be announced very soon. 

Clean your machine, buy a new pack of needles and stock up on thread...and while you're at the quilt shop, thank the shop owner by buying some yummy fabrics.  It's a good thing all the way around.