Thirty short years ago, my life was blessed in a way I could never have imagined when this sweet angel came into this world and made me a mom.
Of all the things in this world that I have wanted to do - might have done - or could ever hope to do, none of them could ever compare to the joy that I have experienced in being her mom. She is the light of my life, and my heart.
Thanks baby girl - for making my life complete. I love you!
Mom
Whew! Like everyone else preparing for market, I'm in the middle of my frenzy! Even though I will not be having a booth this market (a first for me!!!) - I've been preparing for a lot of events and will be walking the show floor and in various spaces and places! Looking forward to seeing everyone - for some it's been WAY too long!
Here's my schedule of events:
Thursday - Schoolhouse @4:20 - "Fat Quarter Quickies" - our new book with Martingale!
Friday - 11:30 am - Checker Distributors Booth. Demo with my ruler - the Fat Quarter Cutter - and our new Cut Loose Press Pattern - Center Point Table Topper!
Friday 2:30 - United Notions / Moda - book signing for Fat Quarter Quickies
Friday 4:30 - Checker Distributors - video for Checker You and Valdani Threads
Saturday 8:00 - Take and Teach - with our Fat Quarter Cutter ruler and this brand new Take 5 Chubbies pattern - Center Stage Table Runner!
Saturday - 12:30 - Checker Distributors - book signing Fat Quarter Quickies
Saturday - 1:30 - Checker Distributors - demo with our Fat Quarter Cutter ruler and the new Cut Loose Press pattern - Center Point table topper
Saturday - 3:30 - Martingale Booth - demo for our new book Fat Quarter Quickies
When I'm not at the above events - I'll be hanging out in the Red Rooster booth showing our newest fabric collection "Mia". Here's a sneak peek of the main print in the group:
And one of the quilts:
And the inspiration behind the naming of the fabric line - our beautiul Mia when she was just a babe!
See you in just a few days folks!
With a warm heart,
Kathy
Cindy! Who posted:
Posted by: Cindy | April 23, 2013 at 08:07 AM
Cindy - if you will email me privately with your full name and mailing address, Vickie will send you an autographed copy of her book!!
Thanks to everyone for participating!!!
With a warm heart,
Kathy
It's a great day for a blog tour today! We are so excited that our friend - Vickie Eapen of Spun Sugar Quilts - has joined the ranks of Martingale authors and is celebrating the release of her first book - "Large Block Quilts"! When Vickie first contacted me and asked me to be a part of this awesome group of bloggers, I of course said yes, but immediately went into panic mode.
(ahem) - What if the blocks were too complicated (after all - I love simplicity at its best) - what if I didn't understand her piecing methods (aka - Kathy doesn't read others directions very well) - what if my points don't match (i.e. - embarassment is not one of the things I handle very well) - what if, what if, what if, WHAT IF????
Well, as it turns out - all of those WHAT IF'S were just a bunch of garbage. Truth be told, the ONLY problem I had was which block I was going to choose! Vickie has written a first class winner - - easy directions, large blocks, simple construction - - and tons of gorgeous quilts - - - so what's not to love (and I mean LOVE) about this book?
Well, after a bit of deciding, then re-deciding, then going back and deciding once more - I chose the lantern lights block. Whew!!!! Decision made. Chose fabrics. Made the block. In record time. Easy peasy. Fast forward to Monday. Open up Me and My Sister's blog. Wanna guess what block they chose? Yep. the lantern lights block.
Decision time again. And BOY am I glad I did. Just look what I put together in 30 minutes flat:
Yup! This beautiful basket block was every-so-easy to put together! From the time I started cutting my units to the finish of the block - 30 minutes flat. Yay!!!!
And just in case you want to see what the finished quilt looks like in the book - here it is:
Thank you Vickie - for asking me to participate in the blog tour - but most importantly for writing such a fun, fast and fantastic book! I can't wait to get the rest of my blocks finished and see this quilt to completion!
But wait - there's more!!! To see more blocks from the book, visit the other blogs on the tour. Here is the entire schedule …
4/20 Vickie Eapen www.spunsugarquilt.com
4/21 Me & My Sister http://www.meandmysisterdesigns.com/blog/
4/22 Natalia Bonner http://www.pieceandquilt.com
4/23 Kathy Brown http://theteacherspet.typepad.com/theteacherspet/ (that's me!!!)
4/24 Jen W http://misspunkiepie.blogspot.com/
4/25 Carol Lewis http://carolscraftblog.blogspot.com/
4/26 A Spoonful of Sugar http://www.aspoonfulofsugardesigns.com/
4/27 Kate Spain http://katespaindesigns.blogspot.com/
4/28 Stefanie R. http://littleladypatchwork.blogspot.com
4/29 Stitch This! Martingale’s blog http://blog.shopmartingale.com/
Make sure to enter on each stop of the tour for a chance to win a book from Vickie. If you are as lucky as we are, and you win a copy, she might just autograph yours too!
Here's how you get a chance to win a copy: Simply leave a comment below. And make sure you visit the other blogs on subsequent days and leave comments there too!!! The winner here will be chosen sometime on Tuesday April 30th.
Before I let you go - - - I wanted to show you a (ahem) "vintage" picture of Vickie and me at my first book signing WAY back in the spring of 2010! Who knew what a blossoming friendship this would be at the time!
With a warm heart,
Kathy
Take one wet, cool, dreary day outside. Add 5 fat quarters and a half yard of neutral.
Disappear into your sewing room for 2 1/2 hours
And what do you get? A "Lickety Split" table runner! Its ready for the quilter, and pattern directions are soon to follow. Look for this little Take 5 Chubbie (TP#011) in quilt shops soon!
I'm off to go see what else I can get myself into. After all - a girl just HAS to play with her newly arrived fabric line "Mia", now doesn't she? I know - its such terribly hard work, but somebody's got to do it - and it might as well be me!!!
With a warm heart,
Kathy
It's so hard when this time of the year rolls around and I have to kind of keep things under wraps until spring market. But I think a few sneak peeks of what's coming your way can't hurt anything, right? Just a few peeks? So here I am - my studio is clean - the sewing maching all juiced up - and I'm ready for the pre-market frenzy with these beauties by my side:
I'll keep ya posted - - and hopefully sneak in a few more peeks as the weeks go along!
With a warm heart,
Kathy
We just returned from a magnificent few days in sunny Destin, Florida! We made new friends - reconnected with old friends, and made memories to last a lifetime! Who could ask for more than that?
We got to Destin late in the afternoon and soon headed over to The Back Porch overlooking the Gulf of Mexico for an early dinner. It wasn't long before the sun began to set -
and we quickly made our way back to our condo to see it from way above!
So beautiful - don't you agree?
The morning brought another sight for sore eyes! Just look at this sunrise on the beach!
And then it was time for classes and lectures! Two full days and nights of making blocks, sharing laughs, swapping stories made for great memories!
And then it was time to leave! I want to shout out a HUGE thank you to the Flying Needles Quilt Guild for our time at the Emerald Coast Quilt Retreat and Show! We had an incredible time with an awesome bunch of quilters!!! Thanks, Destin!
And now - on to the GSQA seminar this coming weekend where I'll be teaching a wool applique class. More fun on the horizon!!!
With a warm heart - and thawing toes (MAN that Gulf of Mexico was COLD!!!) - - -
Kathy
I know it's a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it! Take a peek at my home away from home for the next week:
I know - I know - tough job, right? I'm SO excited to be joining a fun group of quilters in Destin, Florida at the Emerald Coast Quilt Retreat and Show for 3 days of teaching and lectures. I can't wait to see the quilts that are made from my Strip-Smart Quilts book:
For those of you familiar with the book - we'll be making one of my favorites "Family Vacation"
and another favorite - "Cupcicles"
Perfect quilts to get you into the summer frame of mind, don't ya think? Speaking of which - - I might just have to sneak out of class for a few minutes to run over here:
and wiggle my toes in the sand and the water. It's been a looooong 50 years since I've visited Destin, and I can't wait to wake up to this:
and close the evenings with this:
Sigh. Breath taking isn't it? I'll just have to ignore the fact that even though its the first time in 50 years that I've ventured back to this lovely place - the weather decided to take a turn towards the cold side. Highs in the 50's - lows in the upper 20's while I'm there. While this is warm to lot's of y'all, its dang cold for this Louisiana gal!!! Oh well - - if Mother Nature thinks she will get the best of me - and I won't venture my toes into the water - she has another thing coming!!!!
I'll make sure I take lots of pics so that I can share with you when I get back.
Later gators!
With a warm heart (and cold toes!!!),
Kathy
You know that old song with the lyrics that in part go:
Make new friends, but keep the old
One is silver and the other gold
Well today we are introducing our new (silver) friend:
Peek-a-Boo Pals is our newest pattern that has instructions for all 4 quilts - full size appliques - a customizable alphabet - AND the quilting motifs used in the cover models. What child wouldn't be happy with a customized quilt of their own!
And next we have our old (gold) but newly revised friend:
With expanded layout options - this is a baby quilt that is sure to please - and you can make it in just one afternoon!!!
Both patterns and kits are available immediately, and coordinate with our newly released fabric line "Alligator Tales" from Red Rooster Fabrics. As always - please support your local quilt shop first to find the patterns and fabrics! If that's just not possible, pop on over to our website at www.the-teachers-pet.com to get them today!
With a warm heart,
Kathy
What a beautiful basket block...I would love to have this book and can't wait to see the other blogs so I can see the rest of the book....such a great giveaway.