Exciting News, Disappointment & Some Sneaky Peeks!

OK, I've dug a little bit of that snow from over my head and thought I'd better update my blogging buddies on my past week. It's been exciting, scary, stressful, exciting, COLD, nerve-wracking, exciting ...!! I think you get the picture here!! :0) And because of all that has happened - and because I can't seem to share 'short' stories (sorry Chookyblue!), you may want to grab yourself a cuppa before you catch up with my week.

Let's see ... I shared a photo of my finished "Butterfly Hunt Quilt" top with you and after asking for quilting ideas, I decided I would dig into my play-money and get it professionally machine quilted. So I trundled out to my home-away-from-home (ie. Quilters Angel!) to show Marion and Steph how the quilt had come up, because they've both been INCREDIBLY encouraging and supportive as I've worked on this project. Marion sent me off to see Rosalie at Rose Quilting - where I re-met a stitching friend! You see, Rosalie was at the retreat organised by Marion earlier in the year where I taught my "Girl Stuff Bag" pattern. So we had a lovely chat and I left the quilt top with Rosalie and went in search of just the right backing fabric and wadding.

The next day saw me back at Quilters Angel to buy the wadding, when my mobile rang - hmmmm ... who could it be? Mostly my buddies sent text messages cos once we get chatting on the phone, it could be hours before we get off! So text messaging is our self-defence against huge phone bills! Tee! Hee! Hee! It was the lovely Catherine Sanchez from "Homespun" magazine (my all-time fave craft mag!). Not only did I deal with Catherine a couple of years ago when I had a project published in "Homespun", we discovered at that time that we did the last two years of our Bachelor of Arts degrees in Journalism together here in Toowoomba at USQ - small world, hey!! :0) So ... Catherine told me she's back full time at "Homespun" - after Beck left to do some further studies - and she had a problem. It seems they were a project short for the December issue and so Catherine had dived into blogland to see what all the designers were up to. She saw the photo of "Butterfly Hunt" and thought it would be 'just right' for the December issue's theme - would I be interested in having it included? Hmmm ... gee ... wait ... tough decision ... let me think about ... YES!!!!! Tee! Hee! Hee! So, the GOOD news is, "Butterfly Hunt" will be featured in the December issue of "Homespun". The DISAPPOINTING news for you, my blogging buddies, is that I can't show the finished "Butterfly Hunt". You'll have to wait til December!! BUT ... I will share a couple of little sneaky peeks to show you the GORGEOUS machine quilting that Rosalie did for me!!.


I hope you can see this ... Rosalie quilted the centre panel of my quilt with a butterfly meander - how cool and appropriate is THAT!! And it even looks cool with just the blue spotty backing fabric! :0) And a peek at the front quilting ...


Rosalie used a pretty variegated thread that looked perfect against the Ava Rose fabrics I used for the front.


Hmmm ... this one is a little harder to see, but it's the pretty butterfly shape Rosalie quilted into the four green corner blocks.

So ... that was the super exciting part of the week, which led to a Happy Dance or two ... or three! ... I can tell you - one of which scared Rosalie's poor doggies and kitty! Oops! Told you it's like an elephant clog-dancing! Tee! Hee! Hee! Big thank-you's to Rosalie who worked super-hard to get my quilt quilted for me ahead of schedule and to Marion and Steph at Quilters Angel for encouraging me to 'have a go' at designing a quilt pattern!

Of course, once the excitement settled a little, I started to panic and stress a bit, because suddenly, I had an actual deadline for the pattern instructions to be written by! EEK!! You all know the instruction writing part is my least fave part of the designing process!! And then a hectic, muddled week at work got thrown into the mix and I started to stress a bit more ... I felt like that snowdrift had fallen on me!!! However, Catherine has now let me know that I have a little more time to get the instructions etc. finished and sent off than I thought I did, so I'm feeling a little less pressured and I've also made a pretty good start on the writing, so slowly digging my way out of the snowdrift! Feels cold enough, too, since it's been down below zero the last couple of days!! Mind you, Mary in Wyoming (no blogger) wins the "my-place-is-colder-than-your-place' competition. Remember, it's SUMMER in Wyoming, but Mary sent me some photos of SNOW that fell this week in her yard! EEK!! I'd be asking for a refund if it was cold enough for snow in summer!!! :0) Stay warm, Mary!! And all my other blogging buddies who are like me and hate the cold! Oops! I've digressed - how unusual for me!! :0)

Where was I?? Oh!! Yes, the other sort of bad news resulting from "Butterfly Hunt" going in "Homespun" is that I won't be releasing it as a stand-alone pattern until March next year, so if you miss your December copy of "Homespun", you'll have to wait a little while! BUT ... don't despair entirely!! It seems now that I've tackled designing my FIRST quilt pattern project, I'm on a bit of a roll and have already started another. And to help make up for not being able to show the finished "Butterfly Hunt", I'll share a couple of sneaky advance peeks. Ready??


I started with these ... (drool, drool ... Aviary fabrics!!!) And I then did this with them ...


Here are my squares in rows. I've since joined them all together for a centre quilt panel, but will save other details for future sneaky peeks. As you can see, I'm continuing my love affair with the Aviary range of fabrics - they are just so darn PRETTY!! So stay tuned for updates on this quilt - it will also feature some blanket stitch applique` - I've started the designing process and am already VERY excited about it!!!

So ... there you go! THAT'S what's been keeping my snowed under this week! Thank you all for your encouraging comments - even if you're a 'no reply' blogger and I haven't been able to email you back. And now ... I'm off to thaw out my fingers! Did I mention I HATE cold weather?!?! You're sure to hear that a LOT over the next few months! I think I need to find a pair of fingerless gloves - only problem is, I've only seen boring colours - I want rainbow colours! Tee! Hee! Hee! Don't want much, do I!! And I know it doesn't get anywhere near as cold here on top of our hill as it does during the winter in the northern parts of the northern hemisphere like Sweden and Norway, but you have to remember that I consider anything below 25 degrees Celsius as being cold! :0) What can I say, I'm a summer gal!! Wherever you are and whatever you're doing this weekend, I hope you stay snug and warm and have some fun stitching planned. Til next time - Bear Hugs!

CHEERS!
KRIS

PS. Did you make it right to the end?? CONGRATULATIONS!! You deserve another cuppa! Tee! Hee! Hee! BH! KRIS