Thursday, May 29, 2008

Introducing Border Creek Station Pattern Co. and my best friend, Sherri

Let's see if I can make a long story short....about 12 years ago I went to my first chat room on the internet. It was called "Fabric Stash" and had quite a following of quilters. These quilters formed an internet quilting guild called "Royal Purple Ladies of the Night" aka "RPLotN". Does anybody out there remember???? Anyway, through this chat room and online guild, I made a wonderful e-mail friend, Sherri.


Now, Sherri hails from Ontario, Canada...and I am a life-long native Virginian...so what were the chances that we would ever encounter each other in "real" life? Enter 2003. Sherri and I had been daily email pals now for YEARS, we exchanged Xmas and birthday gifts, we shared stories and woes of our children and families....we laughed about living parallel lives because we had so much in common....but we had still not met face to face. Then Sherri starts planning her wedding, and guess who she asked to be her Maid of Honor?


Yep - you're right, it was me! So we finally met face to face at the airport when I arrived in Ontario, about 4 days before her wedding. We had an instant connection with each other in person, too! Since then, we've gotten together numerous times, and still email or telephone almost daily. Every time we get together, it's just like we have always known each other, and like we just had vanilla latte's together yesterday. It's very weird, but wonderful!


In the time I've known Sherri, we have also evolved in our quilting skills. Sherri began teaching quilting classes shortly after I met her on-line, and that fed her love of making her own quilt designs. Which brings me to tell you about Border Creek Station Pattern Company. I think Sherri is on her way to being a very popular quilting pattern designer. Please check out her website! My role in our evolution as quilters is being inspirational for Sherri (haha, I am her biggest cheerleader, besides her hubby); I get to be the pattern tester; and I get to be the sounding board for lots and lots of executive decisions. Plus this month I got to attend International Quilt Market in Portland and be her "booth slave". Here's a picture of Sherri in the booth!

Quiltville Mystery Quilts

I love mystery quilts! Show me a new mystery quilt starting somewhere, and I will almost always jump in and play. Bonnie Hunter, over at Quiltville has been hosting some great mystery quilts this year. The first one was called Carolina Crossroads.


Her latest mystery is called "Orange Crush". We are down to the finishing stages of this quilt. I am up to date on all the steps and just waiting to see how this is going to go together. All of the scrappy sections of this quilt were made from my scrap bin, and the main colors from my fabric stash. Here are my blocks! I couldn't bring myself to actually go out and buy orange fabric, but I did find this kind of gold-cheddary fabric in my stash...


Quilt for an Hour

I love making quilts when they are broken down into simple "units". Since I work full-time with an hour commute each way, I'm always looking for some stress-relief type of sewing in the evenings. I find the rhythmic repitition of chain-piecing to be particularly soothing. I recently found Judy Laquidara's "Quilt for an Hour" project and I have been totally jazzed about following along. It has been absolutely the type of sewing that I crave (for an hour!) after a day at work and on the road. Here are my blocks so far, all fabric used in this quilt came from my stash.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Rubbing Elbows with the Stars

I recently attended Spring Quilt Market in Portland, Oregon. (More on this later...it was my first time to a Quilt Market!) and guess who I got to meet? Mark Lipinski of "Quilter's Home" magazine. http://www.quiltershomemag.com/ I was a bit starstruck when I first saw him, but decided that I just had to be brave and approach him. Turns out he is incredibly friendly and truly funny in person. He graciously autographed a magazine for me and posed for a photo!

Block of the Month


My local Quilt Guild, "Quilter's Unlimited" (Haymarket, VA Chapter) has a block of the month program. Each month a block is presented; members can choose to make one (or more) blocks and bring to the next meeting. The blocks are then put into a "raffle" amongst all those members who made and brought blocks. In addition, you can follow along monthly making a set of blocks to keep, if you wish. At the end of the guild year, each member who has their blocks put together into a quilt top (doesn't have to be quilted) will be eligible to take part in a drawing for a $25 gift certificate to a local fabric store. Being a bit competitive in nature....I'm not about to miss out on a potential prize! Our end of year meeting will be June 12, so I'll let you know if my name is drawn for the prize! Here's my setting with the 9 blocks from our Block of the Month program....and say hello to April, my 18 year old kitty.

Joining the Fun

Here we go...joining in with all you bloggers out there! Hope I can get the hang of this!