Okay. So once I started sewing I couldn't stop and I've been trying to finish up projects that I'd started earlier. (Sound familiar?) This is one of those projects. It's called Road to Heaven and I designed it a while back and had it on my website as a mystery quilt. I'm getting the pattern ready for publication and decided that maybe I should actually do the quilt! (Ya THINK?) I love this particular kind of block because there are a kazillion different settings you can make using just the one block. It's not a fancy block and it's easy to piece -- but once you get a bunch of them made the possibilities are endless and that's what makes it so much fun (at least for me!)

I've been making lap-sized quilts lately and that's what this is. I'm anxious to see what it looks like after it's quilted!

Okay. So I don't post anything for a month and now I'm going to inundate you with stuff. Not fair, I know but right now I've got a little time to get caught up so I'm going to try and make the most of it.

A couple of weeks ago we had a rainy weekend which finally gave me a chance to get into my sewing room and get something done. I needed a baby gift and didn't feel like shopping so I used some of the baby flannels that I carry on my website and did a shaggy baby blanket. I had SUCH a good time! I got everything cut and was able to sit down in front of the TV and just sew. (Usually I'm working on a new design and have to make notations or corrections while I'm sewing. Kinda takes the fun out of it!) Here's a photo of the result. It's nothing extraordinary or fancy -- just a useable, washable baby quilt. What's nice about it is that it's DONE and I don't have to send it off to get it quilted and I don't have to bind it either.






I don't know if you can see -- but the flannel has little baby handprints and footprints. I've loved this particular fabric line for years and was tickled when they finally printed it in flannel. I just think it's sweet.

It's been waaayyyy too long since I've posted anything and I apologize! A combination of a sick computer (requiring a trip to the "computer wellness center") plus my own bout with the current Whatever's-Going-Around really put a stop to just about everything for a while. Again -- my apologies! Allow me to get things updated and we'll go from there.

Over Labor Day Weekend Greg and I travelled to Pittsburg, KS so that I could judge their annual quilt show. WOW! I was truly impressed with the quality of work that was displayed. Overall the workmanship was very good and the creativity was wonderful! I judged 177 quilts and felt privileged to be able to do so. They had well over 200 quilts in the show including quilts done by kids (which were great by the way). I honestly don't know how they manage to put a show like that together every year.




Susan Stewart was awarded the Best of Show ribbon for an absolutely stunning quilt. Susan started life doing heirloom sewing and has moved on to quilting. She does everything by machine and she's got a relationship with her sewing machine that's unbelievable! Here are a couple of photos of her quilt.

I don't know how well you can see this -- but here are a couple of close-ups of her work. Amazing.
Simply amazing.








I had a wonderful time judging the Little Balkans Quilt Show. The quilts were wonderful and the people were so very welcoming and friendly. Plus -- they're darned good cooks, too! Thank you all for your hospitality!

I put out a newsletter from my website this morning and in it I said that I'd found a really good recipe for pizza sauce. As result I've had a number of people ask me for the recipe -- so here it is.

New York Style Pizza Sauce

7 T. water
2 T. chopped fresh basil (dried basil will work too but you might have to adjust the amount)
1 1/2 T. extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp. dried oregano
1 1/2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 (14.5 oz) can petite-cut diced tomatoes, undrained
1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste.

Combine all ingredients and mix. Yield is about 3 cups.

Notes:
I've been using about 2 cups of peeled, seeded diced tomatoes from my garden rather than the canned petite-cut and it's even better than the original recipe. You might want to add just a pinch of salt but I've discovered that if I use pepperoni on the pizza it really doesn't need the salt. I use about 1 cup of sauce for a pizza.

Enjoy!

I'm a member of our counties' Barn Quilts group and we had a meeting last Wednesday night. We're getting ready to produce 0ur first Tama County Barn Quilts Calendar for 2010 and it's starting to get exciting! For those of you unfamiliar with how this all works.............. Our organization works with farmers/landowners who have neat old farm buildings and we supply them with 8' x 8' quilt blocks that are mounted on their buildings. The idea being to help preserve some interesting rural architecture, promote quilting and increase tourism. Not a bad combination! Anyway -- I borrowed a couple of photos to show you what I'm talking about because I thought some of you might find it interesting.

There are several counties in Iowa (and a few other states too) involved in this project and it's fun to be driving down the road and spot a quilt block hanging from an old building.

We've got about 14 quilt blocks hung in our county, several more in-process and a few more that we need to put together and paint. We're planning on having another 12 finished by next spring so we'll be ready for our 2nd calendar!

I know that Mary L. is getting ready for her guild's quilt show in a couple of weeks so I'm tickled that she took the time to send me some photos. (I also apologizie that it's taken me so darned long to get them posted!!)

Mary is my Pattern Tester Extraordinaire and I'd be lost without her! Since I showed a photo of my Fractured Star top Mary sent me a photo of her FINISHED quilt and I thought you'd like to see it. Mary added a tiny little red flange and then an outer border because she wanted her quilt to be larger. Looks great don't you think?


Mary also sent photos of the quilt that I designed as a BOM. She did hers using her own fabrics because I didn't have the fabric kits ready yet. The photo below on the right is her quilt on her bed. (Imagine! It actually made it onto a bed!) The quilt has eleven different blocks and each month people received instructions and the fabric to do four blocks and the built-in sashing. The photo on the left is the back of Mary's quilt. (See? You actually can use up those big pieces!)

Here are both of our quilts. (I FINALLY got mine finished!) Mary's is on the left, mine on the right. I think I need to take a new photo without the shadows (and without the SNOW!)

More news from South Carolina! Marj took Anita Bowen's Galaxy class in South Carolina a few weeks ago and sent me photos this morning so that I could put them here for people to see. The first photo, of course, is of one of the blocks. What rich colors!

The second photo is of the finished top. Marj, you work fast!! You put the pieced border around it too! WOW! I'll be anxious to see photos after it's quilted. I hope you had a good time putting it all together because it sure looks great!

Thanks you so much for sending photos. This is exactly how I hoped this blog would work. I have such a good time designing patterns and I really do enjoy seeing how other people interpret my designs. I just think it's COOL! Also, I appreciate the extra effort it takes to send me photos! Thank you!