My trip to Houston was a Bonnie Blue Quilts trip.  Paula and I settled into her sewing room on Monday afternoon and reemerged on Thursday morning so I could catch my plane.  We came out for some great JR meals – the scallops Wednesday night were to die for – and a trip to Las Mananitas for lunch with Jill and Cindy.  I had my fajita fix and it should hold me – until the next trip!!!  The visit was a success – Freedom Rings BOM is designed and partially pieced!!!  I joked that we needed to have a video camera going while we do this.  Paula designs and cuts.  I piece.  She arranges the components of the block on the design wall and then we both oohh and ahhh – pretty impressive!!!  And then the rearranging process begins.  I don’t piece the blocks so that Paula can move the components around.  I can honestly say that some of those half square triangles ended up in 3 other blocks before they finally found their “home”.  At around 1 AM on Thursday morning, Paula declared the blocks “done” and we each took pictures of them.  I packed each block up and they traveled home with me and I will piece them together.  All in all a very productive trip.

Caribbean cruise – a 5 day out of Tampa on Royal Caribbean’s Jewel of the Seas.  Our daughter Caitlin is coming also and we are all looking forward to a relaxing trip.  Peter and Caitlin will do some snorkeling.  I will watch – that whole face in the water thing – not my idea of a good time.  I have a couple of books and a hand project to keep me busy.

NY trip.  Caitlin and I are traveling to upstate NY to see my son, daughter-in-law and 2 granddaughters.  I am so excited.  Big issue – it hasn’t snowed there yet, so I can pretty well guarantee that it will snow while I am there AND I don’t own a pair of shoes that has both closed toes and closed heels.  Could be a problem, but on the other hand, why would I even consider going out in the snow!!!!!  Brrr!!!  I am a true Floridian now!!!!

Those new BOM blocks will be calling my name the whole time I am gone, so I think I will be at the sewing machine by Tuesday.  Paula is actually coming here towards the end of January so we can go to another of Gloria’s fantastic Camp Blanding retreats – quilting and men in uniforms – enough said there!!!! I should have all of the blocks done by the time she gets here and then we will piece the quilt together – YAY!!!!!  Can’t wait to see it done.  It is hard to believe that we are working on the next BOM program and we are just in the middle of the current one!

Time to go finish up the packing.  I have to be careful that I don’t confuse the suitcases and take the NY suitcase (sweaters, turtlenecks and sweatshirts) on the cruise!!! I hope  you’ve been following Gloria’s blog.  She’s been posting every day – puts me to shame – and her posts are great!!!

Until next time, happy quilting!

Mary Ellen

I’ve been busy since I last wrote:  Market, Festival, family trips, family visits, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, new quilts, re-do quilts, Block of the Month program, personal quilts, etc.  And I have loved every minute of it.  I really don’t know what I would be doing if I didn’t have quilting and Bonnie Blue Quilts.  We’ve been in our new home in St. Pete for almost a year now and I am settled in and loving it.  I have a beautiful sewing room to work in and family and friends nearby (right next door to be exact). Today I’ve enjoyed listening to my niece and nephews playing on the trampoline Santa brought them for Christmas.  I did have to laugh when they asked me if I wanted a turn!!!! Now there’s a visual – me on a trampoline – scary!!!

So you probably want to hear about what’s happening with Bonnie Blue Quilts.

1:  Cotton Club Block of the Month program began for most shops in September and is now coming up on month 6. (I realize some shops are following a different schedule.)  I hope that if you are participating in the program, you are working right along and completing your blocks.  I don’t know about you, but I just love the little blocks!!!  I also hope you are enjoying the free monthly projects.

2:  Block of the Month 2 – yup, it’s time to start thinking about the next one.  The fabric is being printed, the quilt has been planned and now it’s time to sew it together!!!  I am flying to Houston tomorrow (6 AM to be exact), so Paula and I can have some good sewing and planning time (and we have to do inventory – ugh!!!).  I’m holding out for lunch at Las Mananitas – I need queso and fajitas desperately.  Sneak preview of #2 -  it’s going to be patriotic, larger blocks and the eagle fabric is returning!!!!

3: Paula designed 2 new collections for Marcus Fabrics and they appeared in 2 new quilts at Fall Market.  Tavern Blues quilt features the Tavern Blues collection and Elizabeth features the Country Manor collection.  Both kits will be available on our website very soon.  We ran out of kits at Festival and new ones are being cut and assembled as quickly as possible. They are both beautiful collections, but the navies, blacks and khakis of Tavern Blues are just to die for!!!!

Pattern for Tavern Blues

Pattern for Elizabeth

4:  We did re-do’s of A House Divided (watch for this in an upcoming issue of “Quilt” magazine), Plantation Road and Cabin Creek.  Re-do’s are in the works for Savannah in browns, reds and golds, Madison in brown, red and cheddar and a reappearance of Lydia in navy, red and cheddar.  I also just pieced Savannah (without borders) in Morris Garden as a very belated wedding present.  I love this pattern – it looks beautiful in any fabric!!!

5:  Cotton Club fabric was also used in a new quilt for “American Patchwork and Quilting” magazine (on the newsstands in early April).  After the success of Star Formation (and the subsequent lack of kits to meet the demand), we have increased the number of kits we will have available for this new quilt.  We hope you are as pleased with this quilt as you were with Star Formation.

Peter and I traveled to upstate NY to visit our son and I had the opportunity to visit a couple of shops that are participating in the Cotton Club.  I have photos and I will share those in upcoming blogs.  I also have photos of Market, Festival, new quilts, re-do’s, me on the trampoline (just kidding) and others, so I have plenty of “stuff” to share with you in later blogs.

I thank you for your patience with me.  I will try to be better at this “blogging” thing.

I wish you the best in 2012.  May it be all that you hope it will be.

Until next time, happy quilting,

Mary Ellen

Fall – my favorite season – cool, crisp air; hillsides ablaze with trees in beautiful reds, golds, and oranges; apple picking and fresh apple cider; pumpkins; and of course, candy corn!  As a good friend has always said – “She’s never met a pumpkin she didn’t love!”  I know Clair is anxiously awaiting October 1 – that’s Fall decorating day for her – and there will be a tear in her eye when she changes over to Christmas decorating in December.  That was living in New York, but now I live in Florida and it is still hot, palm trees don’t change colors, and there are no apple orchards.  Thank heavens the local CVS had candy corn!!!  I will decorate in another week or so – company coming next week – and I will love how my house looks.  I will munch on some candy corn, look at the pretty decorations and maybe even pull out that recipe for German Apple Coffee Cake that is perfect for fall.  It’s best served warm with vanilla ice cream and I’m sure I can convince Francie and her crowd to come over and join us.

Paula and JR are actually in Longmont, Colorado today setting up for Quilt-A-Fair, a two day vendor show sponsored by the Colorado Quilting Council.  If you are in the area, stop by and say hello.  The hours are Friday and Saturday (9/23 and 9/24) from 9am-5pm.  Paula brought some of our newest quilts and kits with her: A House Divided, Belle Meade, Second Hand Clothes, Legacy, Cactus Baskets, Country Pinwheels and Country Spools.  You can’t miss our booth, we are right at the front door.

So while Paula is off at a quilt show, I’m back at home at the sewing machine.  Fall Market and Festival are just around the corner, so I’m working on completing the quilts that Paula designed for her 2 new fabric collections – Country Manor and Tavern Blues.  There’s 1 word to describe both of them – gorgeous!!!!  I love both of the collections, but I’m probably a little partial to Tavern Blues – navys, browns and khakis – can you say yummy!!!!  Both collections should be shipping in October/November and we plan to have kits for both of the new quilts at Festival.  Rumor has it that I will be working on a small quilt after I finish these two – a little different for us!!!!

Paula thought it was time we did a little something for ourselves, something not business-related, so we are doing an exchange of 4″ finished star blocks.  We each make 2 blocks at a time and then give one set to the other person.  Paula has already given me 6 blocks and I think she has another 6 ready to go.  Me, on the other hand, finally took some time last night to get some fabric cut and paired up for blocks.  I just finished sewing the 1″ Spinning Stars for 24 sets of blocks (yup, that’s 48 blocks – I’m psyched).  I love having the Spinning Stars sewn because now I can pull out a little baggie and piece 2 blocks.

I hope you enjoyed this first day of Fall, wherever you are!!!  Until next time, happy quilting,

Mary Ellen

But I am in a quandary with the whole white clothing issue.  I was raised to believe that white shoes and other white attire were only worn between Memorial Day and Labor Day.  You may have worn white shoes on Easter because they went with your outfit, but they certainly didn’t appear again until Memorial Day.  So now I find myself living in Florida where white shoes (and other white attire) is worn ALL YEAR and by women my age.  Obviously they can’t hear the same voice I hear in my head that keeps telling me: “you don’t wear white shoes after Labor Day” (Thank you Mom!!!)  Now here’s the other side of this whole issue:  I live in khaki or jean capris, short sleeve knit shirts and sandals!!!!  It’s basically my uniform and has been since we began Bonnie Blue Quilts.  White shoes, white capris or white pants would mean I was getting “dressed up” and I certainly don’t do that very much.  So for now, I’ll put the white shoes on the shelf, but not in a box and maybe, just maybe if I decide to pull out my white pants I may consider wearing the white shoes – but there’s going to have to be a lot of loud music playing to drown out that voice in my head!!!!

Enjoy your Labor Day, wherever you are – at the last summer picnic, the last trip to the beach, the last trip to the mall for those back to school items, ironing your back to school wardrobe while you watch the MD Telethon (another Labor Day memory for me) or just enjoying a much-deserved 3 day weekend!!!  My plans – Caitlin is coming over and we are going to stuff Cotton Club Block of the Month patterns (still!!!!) and watch Season 2 of NCIS-Los Angeles!!

Next blog:  Wait until you see the great quilts Paula and I worked on while we were “retreating”!!!!  I promise it won’t be so long until the next time.

Until then, happy quilting,

Mary Ellen

Star Formation quilt

I don’t know what page we’re on, but here’s the picture from inside the magazine.  I just love the setting they used for the quilt. Great couch (wonder where they found that?), great wall color and wall decor!!!  Do you think they had a Paula makeover also – just kidding!!!!

Star Formation quilt

Star Formation kits are available on our website or by calling us at 281 232-2583.

Ok, now I can go back to making half square triangles for Belle Meade.  Caitlin and I finished The Glades yesterday and probably stuffed about 800 patterns.  I’ll have more to stuff this weekend and lucky for me they are showing a marathon of the new series Falling Skies.  I never got around to DVR’ing the show, so now I will be able to watch almost the whole season at one time!!!

So until next time, happy quilting,

Mary Ellen

In the quilting world, now is the time for our favorite magazines to present their Fall issues.  Today I thought I would share issue #2 of the newest magazine to hit the quilt market: Primitive Quilts and Projects.  Congratulations to Lynne Hagmeier of Kansas Troubles Quilters for being this issue’s cover quilt.  Isn’t it beautiful!!!

Primitive Quilts and Projects Fall issue

Country Spools is our quilt in this issue and we have kits available.  We also still have kits for Country Pinwheels (premier issue project).

Country Spools

And to add more confusion to this whole season thing – 2 weeks ago we sent off our project for the Winter issue!!!!  Homespun Media, the publishers of Primitive Quilts and Projects was doing the photo shoot for the issue in July!!!  I can’t wait to see that issue.  Do you think they imported snow for that?  Who had the pleasure of decorating their home for Christmas in the middle of July!!!!!! Hmmmm, so many questions.

I’ve spent a good part of the day at the computer (blogging, business email, Google Reader, etc) and now it is time to head to my sewing machine.  Half square triangles (using Spinning Stars, of course) for a new Belle Meade is on today’s agenda.  Tomorrow Caitlin and I will finish assembling patterns for the Cotton Club Block of the Month while we enjoy the remainder of season 1 of The Glades.

A quick librarian moment:  I just finished The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.  I highly recommend this 1st book in the trilogy and suggest no one get in my way as I race to the library to get books 2 and 3.  Watch for the movie debut in May 2012.

So until next time, happy quilting,

Mary Ellen

I absolutely love my new home and thanks to Paula, I love how pretty it looks.  I thought I would share some photos of my Paula-makeover and I will do that, but let’s be real here: if you are reading this, you are probably a quilter and yes, you would love to see pictures of my pretty house, but what you really want to see is where I sew, where I keep the fabric, how much fabric I have and what kind of sewing machine I have!!!!  And that is why today’s blog is called:  Wall o’ Fabric – because that is what I have – a wall of fabric!!!!

Wall o' Fabric

One of the reasons I fell in love with this particular floor plan was the bonus room/media room at the back of the house.  It is the same size as the game room in our Texas house that I used as my sewing room, plus it  has 10′ high ceilings!!!  I did a lot of planning, measuring and calculating before we moved in and in the end I was able to create a wall of Elfa drawer shelving to hold fat quarter bundles, folded yardage and kits with 2 long shelves to hold fabric bolts – a wall of fabric, 19′ long!!!!  That empty section that you see on the right hand side has since been filled up with BBQ kits.

This is where I spend the majority of my time – at my sewing machine.  It’s a Bernina 440 Quilter’s Edition.  It’s a work horse and I love it.  That white table in the front of the picture is not usually there, but I had been assembling Block of the Month kits when the picture was taken.  You can see a couple of those kits on the table.   I have a Koala sewing table and I keep the back part of the table up so I can store more Elfa drawer shelving (filled with more bundles, etc) under it.  These drawers are on wheels and can be rolled out if necessary.

My sewing table

This is my desk/computer area.  It is directly in front of my sewing chair so I can see the TV.  I watch a lot of TV while I sew: NCIS, NCIS-Los Angeles, Criminal Minds, Covert Affairs, White Collar, Bones, The Closer, Glades, Hawaii 5-O, Leverage, Glee, CSI  – are you sensing a theme here!!!!  And some days, I just love a good disaster movie.  I’m thinking “Day after Tomorrow” would be perfect for this heat!

Desk/computer/TV area

The last wall holds my cutting table (yes, Elfa again) and a couple of bookcases for miscellaneous things – quilt book library, magazines, etc.  And of course, the usual “stuff” on the floor.

Cutting table

I decided that a tile floor would be the best in here – easy clean-up and cool to the touch!!!  Apparently I’m not the only one that likes this feature.  If my husband is out somewhere, our dog Jake loves to curl up under my desk or next to my sewing table.  Copper, Caitlin’s dog, also loves to just come in here and sleep on the nice cool floor.  Here’s my sewing room “friends”:  Jake is the gray Keeshond and Copper is, well, the copper-colored one.  Both are rescue dogs.

Sewing room buddies - Jake and Copper

I love my sewing room for so many reasons: it’s at the back of the house, I can see our pool and deck from the French doors, the AC seems to be extra cool in there, but mainly because it works for me!  The best comment on my room so far comes from my next door neighbor, my sister-in-law Francie (whom I have known since she was 7!!) a non-quilter:  She is standing and staring at the “Wall o” Fabric” and appears to be a little nervous.  Finally she says, “I don’t mean this in a bad way, but if something were to happen to you tomorrow, is there someone who knows what to do with all of this stuff?”  My reply: “Call Paula.  She knows what to do with it”!!!!!

I hope you enjoyed the tour.  Now I did promise pictures of my Paula-makeover, so here’s one for today.  This is my dining room.  I didn’t really want a dining room, but like the kitchen, it came with the house and fortunately I already had furniture that would work in there.  I love the “stuff” on the table.  It’s a mix of antiques (the dough bowl), vintage looking (the horse vane) and handmade (my mom crocheted the doily).

Dining room

And so until next time – keep cool and happy quilting!

Mary Ellen

So, let’s look at some of the things that have been keeping us busy.  Probably #1 on the list would be our Block of the Month program – Cotton Club.  If you haven’t signed up yet, now is the time to do it.  The program begins in September.  Marcus Fabrics has a list of the participating retailers on their website, so check  it out if  you are looking for a shop in your area or online.  Paula designed a new collection of fabrics (Cotton Club) for this program and it features our favorite colors – red, brown and caramels- in 45  5″ blocks with a gorgeous border stripe.  Here it is:

Cotton Club - Block of the Month

#2- We made some new quilts for Spring Market:  Legacy and Gentle Annie.  Legacy features the Cotton Club collection in a new design and Gentle Annie features Paula’s Bonnie Blue Basics collection.  Paula designed some new fabrics for this collection, so now we have Bonnie Blue Basics III.  You will love this pattern because you can use any of the Basics you have in your stash.

Legacy

Gentle Annie

#3 – We did some re-do’s.  I just love when we can take one of our favorite patterns and re-do it in some new fabrics.  Savannah, Cabin Creek and Plantation Road are just 3 of those patterns.  Savannah is such a versatile pattern and this time Paula selected reds and blacks.  Can we say yummy????? Rusts, browns and beiges were selected for Plantation Road. And this time Cabin Creek is slightly smaller and in pinks and browns – need I say any more!!!! Check out these kits on our website.

Savannah

Plantation Road

Cabin Creek

#4 – Have you seen “Primitive Quilts and Projects”, the new magazine from Homespun Media?  Be sure you check it out because the Fall issue should be hitting the newsstands any day and we have quilt #2 in this issue.  Country Pinwheels was in the premier issue and Country Spools is in issue #2 and quilt #3 for the Winter issue was just sent off for its photo shoot.  This is a great magazine with great contributors that you should add to your magazine list.  Kits are available for both Country Pinwheels and Country Spools.

Country Spools - Fall issue of "Primitive Quilts and Projects"

#5 – A trip to Jacksonville, FL to assemble BOM shop kits.  A very special thank you to our dear friend Gloria Parsons and her troop of wonderful ladies for all their help in cutting and assembling kits and to Karen, the owner of Cinnamon’s Quilt Shop for providing us with a room to work in.  I also did a little personal shopping on this trip – Hobby Lobby and a couple of local antique shops.  These items were then used in #6.

#6 -My new house redecorating:  I was lucky enough to be the recipient of an “Extreme Makeover-Paula style”.  In one day, my house went from ordinary to absolutely beautiful.  I was also smart enough to take pictures of everything Paula did, so that should anything ever be moved I know exactly it belongs!!!!  I am definitely going to need them after I decorate for Fall and Christmas.

And that’s just a few things that have kept us busy.  Right now I’m working on a re-do of A House Divided and waiting in the wings is Cactus Baskets, a new Belle Meade and Second Hand Clothes.  Paula has designs for new quilts using upcoming collections and warehouse fabric.  We are both looking forward to mid-August when we will travel to Jacksonville, FL for a retreat and then head off to the Dallas, TX area for another retreat – both of these will be major planning sessions for us.

So happy quilting for now,

Mary Ellen

Well, it’s official – Primitive Quilts and Projects is now a magazine. Congratulations go out to Buggy Barn for making the cover with their beautiful quilt. Check out Primitive’s blog for pictures of the “birthing” process – pretty neat.  I can’t wait until we get our copy and get to see our quilt.  All of the quilts and projects were photographed in a beautiful home.  Pictures of the photo shoot are also on their blog.  Here’s the cover.  I hope you’ve ordered your subscription.

Primitive Quilts and Projects - Premier Issue

So until post-cruise (when this is written by a much tanner author), happy quilting,

Mary Ellen

Okay, so what are my excuses this time?  Let’s go with: “just plain old busy”.  The month-long fabric sale kept us going all day long.  I don’t think I have ever cut so many 1/2 yd pieces of fabric!!!!  When the lint finally settled, we discovered that our loyal customers had done a phenomenal job of helping us clear the fabric warehouse.  Thank you for making the job of emptying the 2 big warehouses and moving into a smaller warehouse so much easier.  In the midst of all of this, Paula was rearranging her own home so she could “take back” the Bonnie Blue “office” into her house.  Yup, we’re back to where we started the business – a bedroom in Paula’s home!

Now Paula wasn’t the only one moving “stuff”; I was preparing for our move to Florida.  Peter and I have now been in our new home in St. Petersburg, FL for just over a month.  We built our new home right next door to the house Peter grew up in and where his sister and her family currently live.  We’ve never lived near family before, so we are truly enjoying this.

AND if that wasn’t enough, we’ve still been doing what we love the most – designing and quilting!!!  Believe me when I say the very 1st room I unpacked and set up was my sewing room.  It was functional within 2 days of being here!  Now the kitchen, not so much, but then again I told my husband I didn’t really even need a kitchen, but apparently it helps with resale!

So let me tell you about some of this designing and quilting we’ve been doing.  Many of you may have heard us mention that we were planning a Block of the Month program (BOM), well it’s true.  Cotton Club is our BOM program that will begin in September, 2011.  Paula has designed a whole new fabric collection (Cotton Club) with Marcus Fabrics for the program and their salespeople are currently introducing the program to quilt shop owners.  Check with your favorite local and online quilt stores for more information about this great program.  I’ll also have more details to share in upcoming blogs.

I don’t know if you’ve heard about the new quilt magazine that will be debuting at the end of the month: “Primitive Quilts and Projects”.  Click on the title and it will take you to their website.  You are going to want to be sure you have a subscription to this magazine.  Top designers in the primitive quilt world were asked to submit projects for the premier issue:  Jan Patek, Lynda Hall, Renee Plains (Liberty Star), Kathy Schmitz, Lisa Bonegan (Primitive Gatherings), Gloria Parsons (Olde Green Cupboard) and many others. Of yeah, and Bonnie Blue Quilts!!!  Be sure to check out our quilt – Country Pinwheels.  Kits will be available – see the magazine for details.  A subscription will provide you with the 4 magazines that will be published each year and Bonnie Blue Quilts will have a quilt project in each one of the 1st 4 issues.

There’s still more, but let me save some for another blog!  We are in full pre-Market production mode, so there are all sorts of things being planned, designed and quilted.  Paula and I keep the email and phone lines in constant use and with our recent purchase of iPads, we’ll be trying a little “Face Time”!!!  Now that could be downright scary!!!!

Although we no longer carry fabric by the yard on our website, we still have all of our patterns and kits available for sale.  As soon as we have some pictures, we will be adding some new kits – redo’s of some of our favorite quilts.

So until next time, happy quilting,

Mary Ellen