New Stuff!

Fellow Quilters,

Long time no talk!  The last time we chatted was waaaaay back in November, just before Hubby and I embarked on a 28-day South American trip.

glacier in Chilean fjords

waterfall in Chile

Unfortunately my laptop was stolen during the trip, and I have spent most of the last month repopulating my files – searching through emails for attachments – and recreating pattern files.  I still have many hours of work to do before I will be caught up, and some files are lost forever.  Lesson learned – I now have an external hard drive to back up my new computer.

In my last post, I had a giveaway for a packet of dee-lish Artisan Spirit Shimmer squares just waiting to be stitched into not one but two matching quilts: my Gemstone Dreams quilt featured in McCall’s Quilting AND the bonus pattern made with the scraps from Gemstone Dreams.  The lucky winner is Connie Goman – congratulations!  Connie is a member of my new-to-me local guild.

Old Man Winter has arrived in my area with a vengeance!  The past few weeks have been particularly snowy, with road closures due to blowing snow and treacherous icy conditions.

Iced trees on the ski hill

I’m making good use of this snow however – my annual snowboarding lessons are well under way.  Instructor Tim is challenging me and my fellow classmates to step out of our comfort zone and stretch our skills (I use that term loosely!).  I am doing much better at riding switch (backwards, or other-foot-forward on a snowboard).  Much of this credit goes to my nephew Dillon though.  A few weeks ago, I spent the day with him trying to teach him how to snowboard.  He rides “other-foot-forward” compared to me, and I found he caught on better if he could see me riding the same way as him, so I forced myself to ride “other-foot-forward” (or switch) all day.  Tim says learning to ride switch will improve our regular riding and it’s very good for our brain.  He also says that learning to snowboard through the trees will help too, but I’m not buying that one!  Trees are solid objects that don’t move out of my way and only result in injuries.  Since I need to get on a plane next week, my immediate goal is to avoid injuries.

Where am I flying to?  Nashville to attend QuiltCon, the annual modern quilt show!! Woop! Woop!  I am super-excited to be manning the FIGO booth with Christina and Ghazal.  We have a couple of fun giveaways of Lucky Charms pre-cuts that can be used to make a table runner and pillow.  Last week I pieced and quilted Shades of Citrus designed by Lo and Behold using a rainbow of Lucky Charms fabrics.

Shades of Citrus by Lo and Behold made with FIGO’s Lucky Charms

It will hang in the booth along with several other Lucky Charms quilt.  I have signed up for 3 evenings of classes.  It’s great to have the opportunity to learn from the uber-creative teachers at QuiltCon.  These classes will seriously cut into my shopping opportunities however (I have a new Western belt, hat and pair of boots on my list).

It’s a good thing, then, that I’m returning to Tennessee next month as well to teach at Mountain Quiltfest in Pigeon Forge.  I have enjoyed teaching at this fabulous event for the past few years.  Most of my classes are full or almost full, however there is still space in the ½-day Intro to Improv(isational piecing) class #21 on Wednesday March 20

Intro to Improv

and the full-day Garden Gate #55 class on Friday March 22 – a new class for me.

Garden Gate full-day class

I am joined by a star-studded roster of teachers:  Bonnie Hunter, Nancy Mahoney, Klaudeen Hansen, Cheryl Sleboda and Linda Hahn, among others.  Linda is a fellow Banyan Batik fabric designer, and her Island Vibes collection is shipping to stores next month.

Did I say fellow fabric designer?!? Why, yes, I did!  Sample yardage of my very-first-ever fabric collection, Vino, has arrived in Northcott’s warehouse.

Vino by Patti Carey for Banyan, a division of Northcott

It was surreal to see full bolts of fabric that I designed.  There are 3 color groupings:  warm burgundy-colored Bordeaux,

Vino – Bordeaux colorway

bluish-purple Tempranillo,

Vino – Tempranillo colorway

and delicately aged Ice Wine (I’m Canadian, makers of great ice wine).

Vino – Ice Wine colorway

Over the next 2 months I will be designing and making projects and patterns with Vino to decorate my first-ever booth at Spring Quilt Market in Kansas City, MO May 17-19th.  The sales reps will start selling the collection in April and it will ship to stores later this year.  Stay tuned for further details!

Speaking of new patterns, I have two.  Sidewalks of Paris PC243 uses Northcott’s “Paris…always a good idea” collection.

Sidewalks of Paris PC243

It is a great pattern for pre-cuts (fat 1/8’s and fat 1/4’s) and for modern collections too.   The pattern includes lap, twin and queen sizes.  I tested it on a bundle of Japanese yarn-dyes I bought last year.  I’ll post a photo of that quilt next time.

My other new pattern is Solstice Star PC233, using Northcott’s 10^th anniversary Stonehenge collection called Solstice. The fabric collection is gorgeous!  I am so pleased with how my quilt turned out.  Both patterns are available through Quiltwoman.

Solstice Star PC233

Northcott featured the collection and all the Solstice quilts at Fall Quilt Market and I was part of 2 Facebook Live recordings (here and here ) announcing the exciting events Northcott has planned this year around this 10^th anniversary collection.  I am anxious to see the fabulously creative quilts quilters around the world make for the block party. The top prize is a 9-day trip for 2 to England with a private tour of Stonehenge, and I will be attending along with Northcott’s Creative Director Deborah Edwards and Stonehenge creator Linda Ludovico.  So exciting!!  Tickets for the trip will also be available for purchase just in case you don’t win 😊.

Well, that’s all for now.  Back to my file rebuilding and snow shovelling!

Cheers,