WooHoo! My first freebie!

Well, I've been trying to figure out how I can give you free patterns for a long time. Easy and cheap, that is. I think I've finally figured something out.  So this is a dry run and I need your help. 

In the spirit of football season or whatever reason you feel you need, I've got a mug o' beer for ya' all.   Click on the link and download the pdf file for the free applique pattern. (You'll need Adobe free reader)

Then, if you will, come back here and leave me comments regarding your experience in retrieving the pattern.  I think it's going to be easy but I'd love to hear about it, was it difficult to get to, did it download easily, was it more work than you want to deal with? If all goes well, I'll have more free patterns from time to time and I'll annouce them right here. 

 CHEERS, EVERYBODY! and Happy Football Season!

http://sites.google.com/site/madcreekdesignsquiltpatterns/

Quilt Festival at Park City Girl

I had to jump on the Quilt Festival band wagon.  This is one of my favorite quilts, it's not to big but it's the cuddliest quilt I own.  I made it using homespun fabrics with a flannel backing and it's so soft and warm. I don't dare cuddle with it if I'm planning to watch a good movie.  I never stay awake for long under this one.

Join in on the Fall Quilt Festival at ParkCityGirl by clicking the following link or the Quilt Festival button on the left.  Tons of great prizes and plenty of quilty eye candy to enjoy.

http://parkcitygirl.blogspot.com/2009/10/quilt-festival-fall-2009.html

All about Geta Gama..............

I've talked to you about Geta in past blogs but there is NEW news today! The Electric Quilt Co and website interviewed Geta and it's really a wonderful and intersting interview. You'll get right into the heart of this lovely and creative woman. And the really cool thing is, Geta now has her first e-book ready for purchase. And I'm betting it's got every little detail possible to teach us how to make shadow trapunto projects like Geta's beautiful work.



So, stop by and visit Geta.



The interview at Electric Quilt:
http://www.electricquilt.com/Users/News/2009/2009_09_3.asp

You'll find her new e-book here and some other beautiful works.
http://www.romanianquiltstudio.com/english/index.htm
Geta's website and shop.

Geta's blog and all of her other goodies that she makes.
http://www.cadouri-din-inima.blogspot.com/

All I can say is.........BUSYBUSYBUSYBUSY........

Well, Pam and I have really been remiss lately. Pam's been busy with two estate sales lately and I've been sewing. Do I remember though to take pictures? Not so good about that lately but here's the finished "Lost in Paradise" quilt you've seen earlier at the piecing stage. It's finished along with some cute pillows for which I haven't gotten pics of to post yet but I will. I think we'll be making a new dust ruffle to match. So, for now, I'll leave you with the quilt and promises of more to come.

Please, Mother Nature.....................

I decided to send out some prayers to good old Mother Nature. "Please, Mother Nature, give us SPRING!" Instead of waiting for it to arrive, I thought I'd seek a little Springtime and here's some for you. Just a few tulips..............



modRocks.etsy.com







spottedcowsoaps.etsy.com







suantova.etsy.com







madcreekdesigns.etsy.com




thevintagepolkadot.etsy.com

Not your usual history lessons...........

Do you love history, specifically quilting history? I'm always curious about traditional quilt patterns. Sometimes I'm concerned with copyrights and if a particular pattern is public domain but that's not the fun part. I'm always wondering who the woman was and what her life was like that thought up a particular design. Was she an artist at heart of was her design a happy accident? Did she make quilts because she loved the process or was it a necessity to keep her family warm? Did she make a business out of her quilting? Some did, you know, just like today.
Well, I stumbled upon the most interesting sites the other day. Actually, several sites chalk full of quilty history for us to soak up. Judy Anne Breneman has done all the work for us and compiled the most interesting articles from crazy quilts to quilts made with tobacco premiums (cigarette silk, cigar ribbon and tobacco flannel quilts) and everything in between.

About Judy: "I love quilts, quilting and most of all learning about the history of quilts.
The purpose of this site is to bring you short, informative articles on these topics.
Care has been given to be sure the history information is as accurate as possible and links are provided so that you can learn more on any given topic.
~Judy Anne"


If you haven't discovered Judy's websites and blog, I'd like to introduce them to you. Even if you're not a history buff, you'll love the wonderfully informative articles and discover some interesting facts about your favorite old patterns and how they've continued to be favorites thru the ages. You'll be offered a look into the past lives of our ancestors and why they quilted, what their everyday lives might be like, what types of fabrics could they afford to buy or the garments they had to recycle to make their "necessary quilts".

Judy can tell you from what era particular patterns originated and how things may or may not have changed in our world today. And if that's not enough, Judy offers some free patterns that she's re-designed using Electric Quilt. (I love Electric Quilt, also).

Do something for yourself today and take a few moments whenever you can and learn a bit about your beloved craft from Judy's easy reading articles. You'll be glad you did. I haven't scratched the surface of all her articles yet but they are on my daily reading list now.

Thank you, Judy for all you're sharing with us!

http://www.womenfolk.com/
Quilting History Quilt Patterns News & Highlights Newsletter

http://www.historyofquilts.com/
Scraps of Textile, Needlework & Quilt History

http://www.patternsfromhistory.com/

http://usualdays.blogspot.com/

Antique Spectacular

I just returned from the Antique Spectacular in Des Moines, held Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 13-15 at the State Fairgrounds. While in Des Moines, I stopped by the 2 big antique malls just off I-80, the Brass Armadillo and the Majestic Lion. I still love these shops and the quality they are maintaining.

I looked for feed sacks, printed flour sacks and old burlap bags while shopping. They are out there! But they are priced from $8.50 to $25.00 and a few even higher. None seem to be pre-washed or ironed. There is not a lot of rhyme or reason to the pricing, but it seems the more printing there is, the higher the price. As for the flour sack prints from the 1930-40's, they seem to just get higher and higher all the time with some priced as low as $9 each, but most at $12.50-$15.

While I thought there would be a lot of sales and lower price tags because of the economy, it was only true in a few instances! At the Antique Spectacular show, the dealers who carried a general assortment of antiques were doing very well and keeping very busy. There were too many jewelry dealers at this show so they were all complaining about low or no sales. And to you quilt lovers, any reasonably priced antique quilt was selling quickly, especially if it was special in any way. The faded and ugly ones seem to be priced by people who did not know a quality quilt, priced as high if not higher than the good old quilts. Then there are those perfect and recently done new quilts which should not be at an antique show or hanging for sale at an antique mall, and they were priced even higher (because fabric costs so much now) but they are never going to sell at $450-$650 like I'm seeing around Iowa - unless they are marketed somewhere besides an antique mall!

The weekend was beautiful with sun every day and no new snow. We stayed with our daughter who is the director of the Perry Public Library and we got a very nice tour of the library, the Carnige Library Museum next door, and the beautiful Perry Hotel across the street. We ate breakfast at the hotel and, my, what an elegant setting and wonderful food!

Home again, it's time for taxes and catching up on a few loose ends before starting on our estate sales again for this year. I hope to make a scrappy/raggy rug and take some pictures while making it. Then I'll let Chris set up a tutorial because she is much better at it than I am! Anyone can make this rug whether you can sew or not! ~Pam

My black bag.............

Here's my bag that I carry everyday. I can get tons of stuff in this baby. I love prairie points, too. They dress up the ugliest things, don't they?

Do you get the idea that I like black and white yet? I think I have since I was a kid. When I was a teen, my mother finally trusted me enough to decorate my own room. Well, that was in the late 60's, pop culture was in full swing, op art, Beatles music, the Mod Squad and The Monkeys were my favorite tv shows.

I had a nice big bulletin board, the kind you can push pins into so I started by drawing an optical illusion onto it and then painted it black and white. Hard to describe in words, sure wish I had a picture. Anyway, from there I purchased this really cool bedspread with my babysitting money. It was black of course and had an alligator texture. Get this! It was vinyl. Yes, vinyl. Not to cozy at all but I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Well, Mom wasn't that thrilled with it nor the black and white color scheme. So she introduced a little color into my world. For which I'm eternally grateful. We painted the walls this beautiful celery green and I've never been able to reproduce or find the exact shade since. I do believe it's imprinted on the back of my eyeballs, I still look for that green today. And my curtains were burnt orange. Now burnt orange and avocado green were very popular back then, remember? But I hated those colors. THEN! I thought they were "old lady" colors. But today, I love them. Put one of those into a boring quilt and WOW! They're your zingers. THANKS, MOM!

chris

Buddy quilting and so much more...............

Chris's blocks

WEll, what a fun afternoon Pam and I had yesterday. We quilted, we talked, we ate Pam's chili(yes, my guest even brought lunch with her) and we talked and we quilted some more and on and on. Ok, maybe it looks like we didn't accomplish much but it's a start.

Awhile back I ran across Bonnie Hunters fantastic site called Quiltville and you'll find her link on the left menu. Bonnie has tons of neat quilts and tutorials for using up your quilt scraps, beautiful scrappy quilts. I fell in love with her Maveric Star blocks and she has a super tutorial on making them. I've been wanting to start this ever since, so Pam and I began yesterday. The plan is, we'll both make ourselves a quilt following Bonnie's tutorial and what a great way to recycle fabric scraps.

As you can see, we may have talked and ate to much as we only completed 4 or 5 blocks each but boy, are they fun to do! I was amazed how little of my scrappy stash was used up though. I may have to make a dozen of these quilts or maybe I should just keep making these blocks the rest of my life, I might put a dent in my scrap stash. Anyway, see how different our interpretations are?

Well, Pam left yesterday with a "lets do this again next week, same time, same place". Hopefully, nothing will get in the way and we'll show you more blocks next week.

Chris

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

A new activity for a new year. Our first blog entry. Here goes..............
Pam and I love making and buying handmade goodies and we'd like to share some of our passions with you. I'll let Pam tell you more about herself but in the meantime, about me. I grew up in the midwest and with the exception of winter time, I love it here. I only wish winter would go somewhere else, forever!

I'm Mom to Rusty, my 27 year old son. Rusty recently started working for Burlington/Northern/SantaFe railroad in of all places, Nebraska. He's spent the past several years living in southern Missouri, and has no idea of what winter really is. He's about to find out!

What have I been doing you might ask, well aside from shoveling snow and trying to defrost my car everytime I get in it, I've been doing a little quilting. As soon as I figure out how to post pictures, I'll show you my black and white creation that's still a work in progress. In fact, I'd better get to work on it so I'll leave you for a bit.

Tell us what handmade goodies you've been working on.