It's always exciting when PFATT is posting new items for the month! It's SPRING! Check it out by clicking on the banner above. Next month will be our Halloween in June promotion (with doorprizes!) and in July we plan a Christmas in July promotion. PFATT a wonderful place full of goodies to get lost in! I am so proud to be a part of these wonderful folks!
Snow is predicted AGAIN for this evening so I find myself needing some reminders that spring is indeed going to happen here. One of my favorite sites to visit is Connecting Threads. It is chock-full of ideas and beautiful material. This is their Country Blossoms Quilt Kit. I am picturing myself just having finished this quilt and sitting at the beach or the park with it's lush green grass. In my mind the grandchildren are on the swings and I am watching my own brood of grown up children pushing them gently and laughing together. Of course the sunlight will be a plus...I can feel it's imaginary warmth on my arms and the back of my neck. There is cold home made lemonade, seven layer salad, baked beans and the smell of brats on the grill. All these images come from a simple picture of a quilt.
If you are in need of some eye candy or perhaps in the market for some beautiful fabric be sure to go over and visit them at Connecting Threads. I promise you hours of browsing and lots of good imagery to stir around in your mind. Hmmmmm maybe it is breakfast on the patio with a dear friend! When are you free???
Now that I have given my Grandson his quilt I can show it to you. (My daughter helped me with it.) I couldn't post it till now for fear that they would peek and see it. Since it is my first real quilt. I was very excited to give it to them. As you can see it was quickly put into use. I am sorry that I chopped off my grandson. I would love to show you pictures of all my grandchildren but, I am not allowed to show their little faces...which...if I think about it, I probably would have felt the same way. I am such a proud grandmother and would love to show them off! Please just fill in the blanks with lots of cuteness! Anyway.......I am hoping the quilt will be fun for them to take to the beach and to the park.
I got in lots of quality time with the grandkids while they were here....Lots of coloring, painting, and playing etc.
One afternoon we started with this....
....moved on to this.....
And after finger painting for awhile with the watercolors we called it quits here! It was just as much fun to play with the muddied water as it was to paint with it and goo around in it! In this way...they are so like me! Hmmm, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, eh? How do you think I got to creating stuff like this...
Did you ever notice how some people just don't appreciate your art supplies, (stash of sewing stuff, piles of material, wood, books or metals) in quite the same way you do? 
I get questions like, "Why do you need so much green?". I'm sure the shock that registers on my face when I am asked a question like that...can not even be read by the person who would even ask it. I love tubes and bottles and jars and pens and markers and spools and reams of color! I even love the dried up palettes after a project is done. I have to admit that I love a small stack of threads of many colors after snipping the finished edges of something I have sewn. Yes...I throw it out but I have to tell you that I like it. I LOVE COLOR! What do you keep a stash of? Send your pictures and your url and I will try to post as many as I can...Send me a jpeg of your color collection! Be sure to tell me a little bit about yourself so I can share you, your work and your stash!
Maybe they are even small stashes....a stash of crayons is always a good thing!
Don't even get me started on material!!!
While at the Quilt Festival I had the pleasure of meeting Mary Etherington from County Threads. She gave me permission to film her for the blog while she was doing a demonstration of rug weaving. A chicken house in north central Iowa became home to Country Threads, Inc. in 1983. Connie Tesene and Mary Etherington, two friends who loved to sew, started a small quilt pattern business, which has become Iowa’s largest and best known “quilt shop in a chicken coop.” Country Threads is based and located in Garner Iowa. Be sure to visit their web site and go out of the way to visit them if you can. ("Four Miles West of the Garner Stoplight on Hwy 18...Look for the signs.") Their next stop is the Spring Quilt Market May 4,5,6 in Salt Lake City, UT. Then they are on to Minnesota Quilters June 15,16,17 in St. Paul. They have a fall Camp from September 18-22. The cost is $175. The two entrepreneurs, who started by designing four patterns, currently have designed over 800 patterns and books. Country Threads patterns are sold in quilt shops around the world. They also put out quite a newsletter called "Goat Gazette". See for yourself....Their booth was packed full of the most wonderful things!
I'd like to make these great banners and I know my daughter would love their punch needle patterns. And...
I'd love to order this to make! Isn't it just the most adorable Quilt (with a capitol "Q")? To visit their online shopping click HERE.
Oh my! I have never been in such a large area with as many REALLY NICE PEOPLE all at one time! It must be the nature of quilters and people who love fabric. It was crowded but let me tell you...everywhere you heard..."oh excuse me....I'm so sorry....Isn't this wonderful....I'll share it with you!" My goodness I came out of this day thinking that if quilters ran the world we'd be so much better off! I have a whole weeks worth of things to show you and people for you to meet! So I guess I will just start from the beginning! There is bound to be something you will like going on in this blog for the next week....lots of new people to meet and lots of eye candy!
This is where I met Debbie Lofgren from Little Stitches. She is from Escondido, Ca. Their patterns are a mixture of primitive, folk-art & a bit of whimsy. AND.........they are super nice folks too! Be sure to visit their website and get to know them better HERE. You can order from their website so treat yourself to looking at all the wonderful patterns from penny rugs to punch needle and more...they offer it. Tell them I said hi!
To order these check out there website on this page!
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