This arrived today.




The sleigh and reindeer can't be far behind.

We are taking a little time to design, sew, visit and eat.

I hope you all enjoy your holiday. We are always thankful that you are a part of our quilting family. Here is a part of our regular family.

I recently ran across this mag at my dentist's office. It is called Real Simple and I think it is a great publication. It is full of recipes, beauty and household tips and practical advice like "To sharpen household scissors, cut a piece of sandpaper with them". Probably wouldn't use that tip on my best applique scissors but it works great for those cheap ones that we all have a million pairs of. you can check it out here.

They talk about this...


and this....


and this.....

Our friends are pumpkin masters. They carve over 100 pumpkins in a marathon each year. This was my favorite this time.


Pam Kitty Morning made me make these!

When I got home from Quilt Market, I took a little time to put my feet up and wander around all the marvelous blogs out there. I started over at Pam Kitty Morning's place because she has the most extensive list of turbo cool places.

My oh my aren't you a creative bunch? I landed here (attic 24) about the time I was feeling totally inadequate which led me here (Sarah London) and her work struck a cord with me. I have made ripple afghans, granny squares and the like a lifetime ago but they looked so fresh to me! You know that I am all about colors and happy stuff. So, I visited here, bought these and maybe a little other stuff, ok quite a bit of other stuff!. I'm claiming that Pam is responsible and she owes me 300.00 for the damages!

I am totally thrilled to be able to show you the designs from our newest collection Simply Sweet for Henry Glass fabrics (it took me 3 tries but I finally got it!).

I designed this collection as a follow-on to Bubblegum Basics (so we could mix and match!). The fabrics will arrive in quilt shops in January 2010. Better run down and tell them if you think you need it!

Put on your dancin shoes, turn up the volume, press play and dream on!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

<

We went to Quilt Market in Houston and just got home. Thought you might like to see what the booth looks like when we get there, when we are set up, and some of the friends that stopped by.

Kind of a "bare bones" look, don't ya think?


After we wiggle our noses: Glenda in our booth.


Funnest visitors ever: Elizabeth and Pam are always willing to mug for the camera a little bit. They are making a fuss over our new fabric line "Simply Sweet" which debuted at market. The quilt behind Pam's head is our LadyBug Hug quilt featuring Simply Sweet. More about that later (the quilt and fabric, not Pam's head!). They drove to Houston from the Bay area and you can follow the adventure on their blogs.




Brenda Riddle of Acorn Quilt and Gifts standing in front of our Rose Essential quilt made from her new Celebration line from Lecien. She is just as lovely as her fabric.



This is Linda Lum DeBono who does contemporary, quick projects. She chats a mile a minute and is fun-ee!


We missed seeing Heather (Anka's treasures) and Camille (Thimbleblossom) and forgot to take pictures of about 100 other friends.

We are glad to be home and look forward to showing you all what we have been up to right after I take a much needed nap!

Later, gators!

We are off to Quilt Market in Houston. Should be a good time. I will snap a few pics and send them along for you. Wish us luck!

We have left Soup-erman in charge around here. He does a pretty good job. If you have problems or questions with any anything QuiltSoup-ish, put him to work! We are featuring a couple of new pre-cuts in October's newsletter. They look like this.

We are underway with mystery Block of the Month program. Here is Souperman at the Post office with the last of many loads.

The clock reads 12:15 and you know it is a.m. because it is dark. You know what the Postal Service claims "Neither rain nor snow nor dark of night"... We claim the same thing! If you are one of the mystery participants, please check the blog from time to time. Might have some updates posted for you.

I must tell you that I'm sorry to have not posted a little more frequently. I have lots of excuses but no good reasons. To make up for it, I thought I could show you the cutest bag and quilt patterns with dimensional flowers that our friend Katie Cupcake has done out of Bubblgegum Basics. She is an up-and-comer with a young family and has recently designed her first fabric collection for Henry Glass. You might want to pay her a visit and let her know we sent you.

This funky collection is called Luna and was designed my friend Gail Fountain for Maywood Studios. How hip is it? Thought you might like to see what it looks like before I wiggle my nose and it turns into something that is (hopefully) too much fun.

My granddaughter has moved back to town and is working with me a few days each week. What a treat this has been for me. She has been cutting kits for about 2 weeks and has taken to it like she was born to do it. I always tell her that she is my quilter.... she just doesn't know it yet! I'm not sure she agrees. I think every quilting grandma is entitled to at least one quilting grandchild, don't you?

Which kits has she been working on you ask? The latest is "The Wedding Quilt" from our new book "Cradle to Cradle". She kitted several of the quilts in the book and is now working on kits for our mystery Block of the Month which starts next month. I think she has done a good job on this one (it's my right to brag a little bit!), don't you?

He delivered again and I want you to know I gave him a cold beverage as you all instructed me last time! Guess what's in the boxes?


Then I was out the door. My friend Nancy from Florida sent me a surprise. She made the bag from our Bubblegum Basic so I could "strut my stuff" as she said! Friends are just the best! I am on the way to quilt group and it is filled with a project!

Our mystery Block of the Month (BOM) is ready. I am only sneaking a little of it! Don't even ask me to show you anymore.....it's a mystery!! Sign-ups start in August over at QuiltSoup and BOM program starts in September. This one was just too much fun and I am looking forward to doing something mysterious.... Are you feeling Matahari-ish?

The waiting is over. Yahooooooooooo! Cradle to Cradle has arrived! QuiltSoup will be posting it on their website as soon as they get the shrinkwrap removed!


I have to tell you that I was laughing as I snapped this off-kilter pic. I was thinking about ThimbleBlossom Camille as I was shooting willy nilly with all kinds of angles. This pic is not to be confused with the beautiful shots she takes...but it made me smile to tip the camera a little bit and imagine her thinking I had lost my mind if she could only see what I was doing!