I got to be Guest Blogger at SewTimeless this week! I was asked to create a project from my new Red, White and True Blue fabric collection and came up with these quilt-as-you-go placemats.  There’s a complete step-by-step photo tutorial.

Once I finished them, I knew I had to invite my sister’s Charmin’ Chatty over for a tea party!

One of my current fabric lines is Christmas Memories.  It’s a small line, with an adorable panel and a companion snowflake fabric.  The line comes in Blue or Red.  When I got my sample fabric, I whipped up a quilt from the red colorway.  Much to my delight, today at our Redwork Club meeting I got to see a completed quilt top in blue!

Earlene did all the stitching on this one.

She did a fantastic job.

I just love how she did a little red in each block.

In some of them it’s quite obvious.

In others, you have to really look for it.

This wasn’t her original plan.

At first she did everything in blue…

…except this little dog’s tongue.

But once that was done…

…she thought every block should have a little red.

So she carefully unstitched a little bit in each block.

I think the result is fabulous!

Her are the two quilts, side-by-side.  It’s so funny, when I’m looking at the red one, I think I like it best, but when I’m looking at the blue one, I’m sure I like IT best!

Oh, I’m so fickle!

Woo hoo!  The new Quilts and More Magazine is out with my All Dolled Up project in it!

It’s a folder that holds the “paper” dolls and dresses from my Dolly Dear collection of fabrics.

It makes the perfect gift for a little girl, and what a great take-along in the backseat of the car or in church.

The dolls and dresses will provide hours of entertainment.

The dolls are stiffened with Timtex and the dresses have batting fused to the back, so everything is easy to move but has plenty of cling.  No tabs to lose like when I was a girl!

I had a ball designing this project.  Just yesterday my mom said she wishes she were a girl again so she could play with them.  😉

This project joins the Let’s Play Paper Dolls quilt…

…and the Dress Up Time up quilt.

Oh, I love it when it’s time for the Bloggers Quilt Fest, sponsored by Amy over at Amy’s Creative Side.  This is a time for people all over blog land to show what they’re working on or a favorite quilt.  I’ve decided to show my Bavarian Rose quilt, since it’s the most recent thing I’ve made.

One week before I was leaving for Quilt Market, I got my sample fabrics–2 yards of each.

For some crazy reason, I decided that I’d appliqué 32 roses for the quilt!

Mind you, I’m not really much of an appliquer, except for some hand buttonhole work I’ve done in the past.  But, I persevered and got them done, using a buttonhole stitch on my Elna.

I also made three other samples for Market.  A bag…

…a Laptop Sleeve…

…and a little stitchery I call Gretel.

And to top it all off, I found a vintage tablecloth at Market that perfectly matches my new collection!

I see curtains in my future!

…Is Market ready for me?

Whew!  3:30 on Wednesday afternoon, and all the projects are finished.  I don’t leave until 4:00 AM tomorrow.  Time to spare!  Now I suppose Bob will expect me to cook dinner.

In the last six days, I’ve made a Laptop  Sleeve, a little Stitchery called Gretel, and I’ve been plugging away on the blocks for the Bavarian Rose quilt.  I don’t know what possessed me to applique 32 rose blocks, but I did.

Finally, after dinner last night, I got the quilt quilted.  Thank goodness for stippling!

Joan, my binding fairy, just returned from Salt Lake City yesterday, but I took her the quilt this morning, and she returned it the afternoon–all bound and with a sleeve on it.  Thank you, Joan!

I wanted one more project to showcase the fabrics so whipped up this bag.

I think I’ll go pack now!

I’ve been busy making samples from my new fabric line, Bavaria.  My main project for the Timeless Treasures‘ booth at Quit Market is a quilt with 32 appliqué blocks!  So, every once in a while, I take a break from appliqueing and work on a small project–like this little stitchery.  I call her Gretel!

Once the stitching was finished she still looked a bit plain so I was going to embroider a line about a half inch in from the edge, but then inspiration struck–why not rick rack!?!  It was quick and I love the look of it.  There are twelve fabrics in this collection and it was fun to cut up a few squares from each one to “frame” her.

Speaking of the twelve fabrics, here they are!  I always name all of my prints.  This is the inspiration piece for the line and, of course, it’s called Bavaria!

Many years ago I was a tole painter, and I loved the Bavarian folk art that influenced a lot of my projects.  One of the things that I loved to do was paint folksy roses with just a few brush strokes, like this chest I painted many moons ago!

So I knew this collection would need a rose print in it.  Here’s Bavarian Rose.

I like to play with different grids and geometric elements, so Tulip Chain found it’s way into the line.

Four Flowers is just that–clusters of four folk art flowers.  This is the one I used as the lining in my Laptop Sleeve.  By following the paths between the flowers, I was able to quilt this without marking!  Gotta love that!  Actually, you could follow the design in the Tulip Chain for quilting, too.

I always want different scale in the lines, so Buds in Windows helps fill the bill for something small scale.  It’s also fun to have something with a little bit of a hard, geometric element.

And speaking of geometric, how about a stripe?  I didn’t want just a plain stripe, so this one, Bavarian Stripe, is filled with garlands of flowers.

Last but not least is Gridded Buds, another small scale print, but this time, it’s monochromatic.  I always like a little something that’s rather plain to give the eye a place to rest when making scrappy quilts–which most of mine are.

So, there you have it.  I hope to get the quilt top pieced today and then it’s onto the long arm.

I’m busy making Market samples from my new line of fabric – Bavaria.   Yesterday, I took a break from appliquéing roses to make a laptop sleeve.  I need to go shopping for a big red button and some Velcro for the closure.

Since it will be displayed in the booth at Quilt Market, I didn’t want to put my real laptop in it.  Luckily, my sister recently bought a laptop sleeve, and it came with a nifty foam insert.  Perfect!

This was so simple to make.  Here’s the “formula!”  By the way, this would work for an i-Pad, Kindle or any size notebook!

Measure the width of your laptop and add 2-1/2″.

Measure the height of you laptop, double it an add 5″.

Cut two pieces of fabric and some fusible fleece this size.

Layer and quilt.

Round off the corners on the top edge.  I used a sewing basket lid as my guide!

Cut a strip of binding 2-1/4″ wide and bind the bottom edge.

Fold up the bottom, using your laptop as a guide.  Stitch the edges with a scant 1/4″ seam.

Using more 2-1/4″ binding, bind the sides and top of the sleeve, turning the binding under at the bottom edge to finish.

Voila!  It’s that easy.

Note: I used the Four Flowers print for the lining of my sleeve.  When it was time to quilt the fabrics together, I just followed the path between the clusters of flowers.  No marking!

Yesterday, this…

…brought me this….

…which contained this!

My new fabric line….

…called Bavaria!

Excuse me, now I have to go sew!

My latest fabric line, Dolly Dear, is in stores and shipping now.  It has lots of pretty prints, but my favorite is the repeating stripe with the paper dolls and their dresses.

I’ve designed a free pattern for a quit that I think any little girl would love.  The dolls are sewn into the body of the quilt, pockets are added around the outside edges, and the dresses are cut out so you can play dress up!

I thought I’d walk you through the easy steps for making this quilt.  First, cut out three strips of the dolls and “frame” them with the Patsy Posy print.

Sash them with the Pink Marigold fabric.

Add borders of the same pink print.  I know they look really wide, but there’s a reason for that.  We’re going to add pockets!  At this stage, you need to quilt the quilt.  I stippled mine.

Cut pockets and lining using the template provided with the pattern.  The front of the pockets are from the Dress Panel that goes with the line.

I LOVE rickrack, and this seemed like the perfect place to use some!  Put the pocket front and lining right sides together, insert rickrack and stitch edges and bottom.

Turn right sides out, press under 1/4″ at the top and top stitch closed.

You’ll need twelve pockets.  When they’re finished, topstitch down around the sides and bottom.

Fuse some batting scraps to the backs of the dresses and cut them out.

Now you’re ready to tuck them into the pockets….

…or dress the dolls!

I also added rickrack to the binding!  There’s no such thing as too much rickrack, is there?  The kit for this quilt includes the 12-1/2 yards needed!

Here are a few other things made with this fabric line.

This adorable sundress is made with the Tossed Dolls print and lined with the Green Jumble.

The body of this jumper is the fabric I call Bette’s Bouquet, and this pattern is perfect for showing off the doll dresses.  Both these dress samples were made by Renee.

This pattern from Yesterday’s Charm is one of my favorites.  Carol O. made this sample for me.

Nan stitched up the backpack for me.

And I made this quilt, Dress Up Time, from the Dress and Purse panel.  More rickrack–two sizes!!

If you think I’m in my second childhood, you may be right!  But, I must tell you, I didn’t play with dolls in my first childhood, so I’m making up for it now!

As usual, I had a fabulous time at Quilt Market!  Here are some of my favorite images from my days there.

During set-up, I spotted this fabulous clock–which looked so much like a Swedish Mora clock, that I just had to as if I could take a photo.

As it turned out, it’s by Rebekah Merkle, who is designing fabric for Timeless Treasures–just like I am!

Her booth was adorable.

Of course, the Dolly Dear display was lovely!

I’m such a daisy fan, I must find a way to get my hands on some of this daisy fabric.

This sign cracked me up!  I guess if you’re a Farmall fan, you’d be delighted, but don’t tell Bob!

Deb Tucker’s new Lemoyne Star ruler is perfect for making all sizes of Lemoyne Stars.  I can’t wait to make some blocks and demo it!

Did I mention how cute the Dolly Dear fabric are??

I know Jamie from Timeless had the cutest ruffled backside in all of the convention center!

I love the Let’s Twist quilts.  This pattern is from Bean Counter Quilts.

As a fan of dots and bubbles, I couldn’t resist snapping a picture of this quilt.

Since my fabric is called Dolly Dear, I thought it appropriate that I make a sample of Little Mary.  Carol O. made this sample for me, and she has named her Ethel.

It’s always so incredible to see how talented people are with their displays.  Don’t you love this!?!

And the cute clothes.  This is Chelsea, who filmed a video of me that will be on the Timeless blog soon!

My Christmas Memories Redwork quilt was also hanging in the Timeless booth.

I picked up a new book, Those Flirty Thirties.  This is one of the quilts from the book.

Here’s a close-up.  Gosh, love her strong colors!

Covered buttons were big and this is just a fun way to use them!

I always love the inspiration I get from Market!  The quilting world is a great place to live and play, and I’m glad I’m part of it!