LaVieEnRosie

Silly book stuff...

Do you promise not to laugh at me?

I'm in the middle of making a quilt and I need to take a break from making half-triangle squares.  There.  I said it.  As much as I love them, even I get tired of making them. 

Especially when I've gotten it into my head that I need lots and lots of them. 

This is what I've got so far...

Red and cream ~ all from Polly and Laurie.  Or make that Polly and Lauri.

If Laurie fesses up to how many berries she's been appliqueing, maybe I'll tell you how many half-triangle squares I've made. 

These are for a new quilt ~ and while the pattern is mostly written, the quilt still isn't finished.  Why does that always sound familiar? 

So while I was checking e-mail and getting caught up, I ran across an e-mail telling me about something related to Schnibbles Times Two on Amazon, something that was too funny not to pass along.

You know that I've been discounted on Amazon...

And there are several copies available...

Do you ever wonder how they arrive at the percentage of discount?  Does it make a difference to you if the book is $17.99?  Would you buy more copies if it was $17.31?  I always wonder about things like this.

There are some new copies...

There's even a used copy...

 
What? 

It gets funnier...

 
$424.16???

I'm wondering why the .16 though. 

Maybe I should start selling a couple of the extra books Martingale sent me... what do you think? 

If and when you do get to see Schnibbles Times Two, please be sure to go to Page 59.  My favorite picture in the whole book is in the lower right corner.

I've gotta go, Julia, we got cows!

 
Okay.  Enough diversion for this afternoon.  <g>

Where's my rotary cutter?

Air time...

Okay. 

Being in this business just got officially weird.

Not bad weird. 

Kind of a "huh... what was that?" sort of weird.  A "there is no way to predict that something like this would happen" kind of weird.

Do you remember my telling you about my Jellystone quilt being in ~ on ~ Quilt Magazine last Fall?

The October/November 2009 issue.

A week or so ago, my friend Diane Tricka ~ the same Diane who quilts a lot of my quilts and makes them look really amazing ~ told me about a commercial she had seen while she and her husband, Gary, were watching Fringe on the FOX channel.  Like most of us, she pretty much ignores the commercials... until something caught her eye.  She thought she recognized it, but it was gone so quickly, she was sure she had imagined it.  Since she doesn't have Tivo or a DVR ~ Gary says they have something called Antenno ~ she wasn't able to confirm whether or not she had seen what she thought she might have seen.  Nonetheless, Diane wanted to tell me about it, just in case I should happen to be watching FOX television and saw the same advertisement.

The particular "commercial" I started watching for is the promotional/preview for a new Summer show on FOX -- The Good Guys.  It stars Bradley Whitford ~ from The West Wing ~ and Colin Hanks ~ the eldest son of Tom Hanks. 

So last night, there I am, sitting on the edge of my seat and biting my nails during a very intense episode of 24.  I know, all the episodes are intense.   The last commercial break for the climactic ending... and there it is, the promo for The Good Guys.   

Okay.  I'm ready.  I'm watching... oh my gosh... there it is. 

Or rather, there it was.  At least, I think it was.  It couldn't have been... except that I think it was.  

Fortunately I record all episodes of 24.  Just in case I miss something.  Like a commercial.

Replay.

And there it was.  I'm not sure how or where it figures into the episode...

But I will be watching.

Or recording... as I'll be in Minneapolis.

Wednesday, May 17th on FOX at 7:00 pm.  Check your local listings.

Do you think I'll get a credit at the end? 

I didn't think so as that might mean they have to send me a check of some sort.

Rosie? A cougar?

Matchmaker, Matchmaker,
Make me a match,
Find me a find,
catch me a catch
Matchmaker, Matchmaker
Look through your book,
And make me a perfect match

The thing is, I think my memory must be getting hazy.

I would have sworn that the matchmaker in Fiddler on the Roof was a very old little woman. 

Apparently not. 

Because a beautiful young woman suggested a match for Rosie when she left a comment here yesterday...

We just got a dog, Max, who I think should be Rosie's boyfriend. Think about it. 

Rosie... meet Max.

 
(Photo shamelessly swiped from the aforementioned young woman.)

The thing is, Max is 1 1/2 and Rosie is 10 1/2. 

She's old enough to be his grand-mother!  His great-grand-mother!

May-December? 

I'm thinking this sounds more February-December.

But Max is a very good-looking boy.  He also comes from ~ with ~ a lovely family.  And those beautiful brown eyes ~ hearts have been broken over eyes like that. 

So I think this means Rosie's got a date.  

Hey, if this works out, it could mean a guest-appearance on Cougar Town!

This is good news too because while Rosie is a very pretty girl, it isn't like she's been inundated with other offers.  Howie and Zack live in Florida.  And Gibby's more interested in gazing out the window... I bet he's looking for some sassy little French Poodle.  Besides that relationship could never work... Gibby's almost certainly a Red Wings' fan. 

So even though she doesn't have a lot of other options, Rosie is very excited about meeting Max.

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Really. 

When you're 70-something ~ in dog years ~ this qualifies as excited.   

Max?  Hello?  Are you still there?

Max?

Working hard?

Yeah, right. 

It's the best thing about getting to do what I get to do.  I get to spend two whole days with quilters and call it "working".

There was a Schnibble-sighting in St. George, Utah. 

 
With books actually starting to ship this week, there was some concern about our having books for class.  But Martingale is amazing and they made sure that the necessary books for class arrived on Wednesday.  I would have bought some to send you but we really did have just enough copies for everyone in class.  So a huge thank you to all the kind ladies at Martingale!

I was at Scrap Apple Quilts again.  Shirley ~ the lovely owner ~ keeps inviting me back.  I'm starting to wonder about her... and some of the gluttons for punishment returning students.  It's always nice when I see familiar faces... well, most of them.  (Just kidding!  I've yet to meet a quilter I wouldn't enjoy seeing again... and, yes, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!)

This is part of the classroom.  The window you see in the back faces out to a lovely little courtyard shared by the businesses of this shopping center.  Across the courtyard, the shop you see in the background is the quilt shop.  It's a perfect arrangement for a quilt shop as the classroom is separate from the shop, lessening the distractions and interruptions from customers in the shop.  But if you need something during class, the shop is about 50 feet away.  The classroom also opens out to the parking lot on the other side, making it easy to haul in all the "stuff" we seem to bring to class.  There's also a separate restroom and storage room.  I think you can see why I love being invited back.  The ladies are pretty nice too.

The class was kind of a two-day, you-pick sort of thing in that everyone got to pick the project they were making.  Most everyone did something from the new Schnibbles book... except for Connee, Carola and Cari.  They're my "problem children".  (Not really... they're funny, lively and they make everyone feel they're "one of the girls".)  Carola and Cari worked on Crackling Palms from two years ago and Connee brought her finished quilt top and something new to work on ~ Full Bloom made with American Jane's Breath of Avignon fabric.

Sorry about the missing row ~ she was busy working on the quilt and I didn't get a chance to get another picture.  Trust me when I tell you that Connee's quilt is gorgeous!  It's happy, cheery, sunny and all-around yummy.

On Friday night, Shirley and her coterie of amazing assistants made a terrific dinner that was served in the courtyard so we could enjoy the beautiful evening.  After dinner, I took advantage of the captive audience and bored them to tears with quilts, quilts and more quilts!  All mine, of course. 

And since I'd showed them mine, I made them show me theirs!

That's right!  I asked everyone to bring one of their quilts for a show and tell.  They could bring any quilt they wanted to ~ their most recent, their first, their favorite, their most treasured. 

These are Sweet Escape quilts from last year from Ronnie, Yvette and Andrea. 

Dawn brought this terrific Winter White quilt made from Sandy Gervais Christmas collection ~ she made this for the Year of Schnibbles.

Susan made Good Tidings using the pattern from Australian Homespun magazine.  I love the wavy scalloped border on the quilt.  (Show-off!)
 

Sherri ~ yes, that Sherri!  A Quilting Life Sherri! ~ brought several of the Schnibbles quilts she's made in the past few months ~ her version of Sunday Best is one of my favorites. 

I don't remember that Sherri ever showed a picture of what she put on the back of this quilt ~

 
How cool is this?  I like the exceptionally creative use of leftovers and the white part shows off the beautiful quilting!  And please note the terrific scrap binding... can you tell I really like this quilt?

 Sherri also brought a little something extra...

For moi.  She was teased about being "teacher's pet" and guess what!  She was!  Is!  It's wonderful.  It's very cute.  It's made out of some of my favorite fabric.  And Sherri made it for me!  I think the others were just jealous of my good fortune.  I love my little basket and while I try to figure out where to put it and what to put in it, it's on my cutting table, sitting right next to Route 44.  Which will hopefully get a binding this week...

Andrea, Ronnie and Jean made Scratch using the Martinique collection by 3 Sisters.  I think I'm going to need some taupe polka dots so I can make one too.

Yvette made Nice Day using the Whimsy collection from Fig Tree...

Samantha made a really beautiful small version of Imagine using the Civil War Homefront collection by Barbara Brackman.  She finished the borders before we finished on Saturday but I didn't get a picture of it.  Given an opportunity to do so, I know I could have found space in my car to take this quilt home with me. 

Here's Laura and her Imagining Verna...  Or Imagine, made with Verna fabrics.  Poor Laura.  Her blocks were up on the design wall... about 10 feet from the door.  Which we kept opening to get some fresh air.  Which we closed when it got windy.  Which was after the wind blew through and blew all of Laura's blocks off the wall and onto the table.  And the floor.  Pretty much... everywhere. 

She's smiling because this picture was taken before the wind-thing happened. 

I missed several other pictures ~ or was thwarted by "folks" taking their blocks down before I could get one. 

And I didn't get to take a picture of Sherri's Plan C.  She was so busy finishing it that it wasn't in one place long enough for me to take one!  But I will tell you that it's beautiful.  And you're going to want to make one.  Martinique and a little Park Avenue thrown in.  If she doesn't show a picture of it when she's done, we'll hunt her down.  I know where she lives.,, 

What else to tell you?

As always, I got to hang out with all sorts of wonderful, kind, generous, and all-around amazing ladies.  St. George is beautiful, and so is the  drive to get there.  I didn't get any speeding tickets.  I almost ran out of gas on the way home.  And every time I drive through the Virgin River Gorge, only one word/thing comes to mind -- Porsche!  I seriously love that stretch of highway.   

Okay, one last thing.  This is a warning of sorts, one of those "you'll be sorry if you don't..." and "you'll thank me later for this..." kinds of warnings.

Rural Jardin by French General.  In quilt stores now. 

After a terrific lunch in Las Vegas, "someone" bought a little bit of this at Quiltique to go with some of her Rouenneries stash.  Since I know she's going to make something fabulous with it in the near future, I bought some of it when I got home.  I would have bought it there but I didn't want to be too obvious in my blatant copying of her work (there's enough of that already).  I might have gone back without her but I was kind of running a little late and I probably would have gotten lost trying to find the quilt store... okay, probably not.  No real quilter ever gets lost on the way to a quilt shop... it's a built-in GPS sort of thing.  (GQSPS ~ Global Quilt Shop Positioning System.)

By the way, Cafe Rio really is as good as she says it is.

So was I right?

Does any of this sound like work to you?

I'm sure I'm forgetting something...

Though I'm not sure what else will fit in the trunk of the car.

I've got the quilts.  I've got patterns and stuff for class.   

I've got my stuff in the backseat.  Cell phone.  iPod.  Dr. Pepper.  Sunglasses.  Directions. 

I think that's everything.

Except I just know I'm forgetting something... 

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I wish I could.

But I'll be back soon. 

Is it time yet?

I am not good at waiting.

It always makes me laugh when the first thing non-quilter-folks will say when they learn that I'm a quilter is "you must have a lot of patience". 

Uh, no.  Not really.  Not at all, actually.

It took longer than it takes to give birth to an orangutan or a llama.  Or a cow!  So what if it wasn't nearly as long as it takes to have a baby elephant. 

A year is still a really long time to wait.  Especially when you're not good at waiting.     

But while I've got my book, it won't seem truly "real" until I see copies of it somewhere else.  Like maybe in St. George, Utah next Friday... that would be good.   

Now that Schnibbles Times Two is almost here, there are lots of things I have wanted to tell you about it, mostly all the help I got in getting it done. 

[Insert self-serving photo of my book here.]

 
No, I haven't worn out my copy.  But I am going to need a couple extras.  One to have signed by all the people it took to get it done ~ more on that in a moment.  Then I'll need a copy that I can actually use.  And I'll need to have one to keep in the car at all times... just casually sitting on the front seat or dashboard should I get pulled over for some ridiculous unknown reason... "oh, yes, Officer... that's my book... I wrote it." 

And then I'll need a copy to keep in my purse so that it can conveniently fall out at the appropriate time...

But I need to back up... back to getting this all done. 

This all came about last Spring.  As in, about two months before Spring Market last Spring.  Within a week, I went from the craziness of trying to get ready for Market to the craziness of trying to get ready for Market and get 15 big quilts made and a manuscript written.

We'd originally planned to include 15 projects but I ran a little long... what a shock, huh? 

But those three are being saved for "the next book"... at least that's what the very nice ladies at Martingale said.  Though after I was just a tad late with my manuscript last time... we'll see.  And I'm sure it will depend on how many books are sold so if you haven't already done that click here to buy my book!  Please!

Where was I?  (Self-serving groveling can be so distracting.)

My first couple of calls were to my favorite long-arm quilters ~ Diane Tricka and Louise Haley.  Louise and Diane.  They've both made me look really good for so many years that I couldn't imagine doing a project like this without them.  They said to "bring it on!"  To wit, both of them have their names in the book more than I do!  As well they should.

The thing is, all the little quilts were done.  I had made those when the small quilts were first published... okay, one or two still needed bindings, but that's an easy thing to finish.  How was I going to get all those big quilts done in time?

You got to have some Friends
Something about friends
Just right friends
Friends, friends, friends...

I called Darlene.  You probably know her as Quilting Daze.  Darlene pieced and quilted a "nostalgic" Imagine...

 
Lisa?  You're the Stashmaster.  Can you make a quilt for a book?  Will you do a very "sultry" Short Story?

Actually, Lisa pieced two quilts.  She made this one and McGuffey.  But only one picture gets shown here.  If you want to see her beautiful McGuffey quilt, you'll have to get the book. 

The one-and-only Sister's Choice, Nicole, was dragged in as well, she made a wonderful "object of desire" with Bennington.

 
Sue from Michizona ~ she spends half the year here, half the year there ~ pieced three quilts.  She's fast.  Hot Cross, Scratch and X-Rated.  That's X-Rated on the cover ~ don't think I'll ever hear the end of that! ~ and this one, Hot Cross.

Judy pieced three quilts too ~ Plan C, Little Red and Open Season.  This is Plan C.

 
Martingale is keeping Plan C for their booth and some upcoming shows.  They're keeping Short Story and Bennington too ~ Nicole and Lisa and just going to have to wait to get their quilts back... oh well.

In addition to sending me a couple boxes stuffed full of Layer Cakes, Moda Lissa also made a quilt.  And so did the United Notions Buyer Extraordinaire, Debbie Outlaw.  If you want to see their quilts, Nice Day and Spin City, respectively, you'll have to get the book.  Or you can see them here.  But the book is better.  Trust me.

Before I forget ~ about the fabrics.  I've been asked which collections were used for some of the quilts so I made a list of which collections ~ layer cakes or charm packs ~ were used for each of the quilts.  Since even the most recent quilts were made last April and May, all of these fabrics are previously released collections.

Schnibbles Times Two ~ Collections  

If you live in Phoenix, Dee and Whitney, the overall, fairly nice sisters who operate The Olde World Quilt Shoppe have invited me to do a book signing on Saturday, April 17th.  I think it's sometime in the afternoon ~ Noon-ish ~ but I would call ahead to make sure and reserve a copy of the book. 

 

(I'm teasing!  Dee and Whitney are very nice ladies.  I'm just getting them back for the "tablecloth incident".  They know what I'm referring to!  But if you go, say Hi to Dee's daughter, Jordan.  She is far and away the nicest of the lot.  If you have a handsome, intelligent, accomplished and extremely charming son about 24 years old, bring him along.  You'll love Jordan!  She's beautiful, smart, and quite wonderful... and her Mom owns a quilt shop!)

Whew!  I think that's everything.

One more thing ~ the June 2010 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting magazine!  You already know about the terrific article about Polly and Laurie... beauiful pictures, great article... whatever.  After you read that, don't miss Dancing Dots by Nancy Mahoney on page 101.  Nancy is ~ was ~ the Technical Editor for Schnibbles Times Two.  She was so much fun to work with.  I'm glad Martingale brought in an expert to make me look good! 

(Actually, the whole issue is great.  Quilts from Jo Morton, Lynn Schmitt Cibulka ~ I know her from A Touch of Amish in Illinois, Jill Reid, Laurie/Lauri Simpson, the FunQuilts people, Rhoda Nelson ~ no relation, I think ~ and Cindy Blackberg.)

Now I'm done. 

If I think of anything else, I'll let you know. 

Missed it by a day...

I would have been here yesterday but my manager at "work" suggested that it wasn't really April Fool's Day unless I was there. 

Either that or the toilet paper roll needed changing. 

How do I define job security where I work?  I'm the only one who knows how to change the toilet paper roll in the bathroom.  It's one of those commercial things with a locking-hinge.  It isn't hard but since there is someone ~ moi! ~ who already knows how to do it, nobody else has worried about figuring it out. 

I think that makes me indispensible.  For now. 

 
 How pretty are these?  Primrose Inn by Blackbird Designs.

They're not mine. 

Well, they are right now.  Technically.  But not really.  They actually belong to Angela and and Edith. 

From Sherri's parade of Roundabout Schnibble quilts...

 

I love this beautiful patriotic beauty by Angela of Country Scrap Quilts.  It's made with Bar Harbor, the newest  collection from Polly and Laurie.  Minick and Simpson.  Those girls. 

If you haven't already seen it, the feature about them in the June 2010 issue of American Patchwork is wonderful.  They deserve it, though really, as terrific as it is, they're even better.   

And from Sherri's parade...

I loved this collection ~ Heritage Collection for a Cause by Howard Marcus ~ and I love Edith, the Little Red Hen from Red Door Quilting's, little quilt.  

If Angela and Edith will leave a comment, I'll e-mail you and get your mailing addresses so I can get some Jelly headed in your direction!

I have to tell you that Roundabout is one of my favorite little Schnibbles.  I always thought my quilt was helped significantly by the wonderful Simple Abundance fabric, the truth is that I loved everybody's quilts.  They were all wonderful!  If I knew how to do one of those mosaic things, I would have done one with everybody's quilts!

Seriously, I want these quilts! 

Will you let me borrow them for a little while?  I'll give them back... really.  I promise. 

Until next time, I hope everyone has a very Happy Easter!