Off to Houston....

It is 6 a.m. here in Louisiana and I am finally finishing up packing and getting everything ready to leave for Houston in about 3 hours.  I just know I have forgotten something....oh well....there will be plenty in Houston for me to see and buy!

 

This beautiful quilt was started in Florida, but it is finished now!  And Brenda will have the kits in Houston.  Stop by our booth #653 and tell Brenda you seen it on our blog.  You will get 5% off any of your purchases, just for stopping by.

 

We will have quilt kits, fat quarters and I will demonstrating the twister mug rugs everyday all during the day.

Have a great day!

Martha

 

 

We have a winner!

Actually we had one yesterday....but the internet decided not to cooperate so I could post!
So without any more delay:

Flo@ButterflyQuilting
I started with rag quilts...but now am hooked on piecing...or trying to piece larger quilts!!
The book looks like something fun to try..thanks for the giveaway!
And I only wish I was going to Houston! So jealous!! Have an amazing time!! And then tell us all about it! :)

Congratulations Flo!  I am one of your followers from my blog and I so enjoy reading your posts.  I look forward to seeing what you do with the book Turning Twenty Slapplique by Tricia Cribbs and the fabric to make this block...

And I want ya'll to know that I took my camera yesterday so that I could take pictures at the shop...and when I got home realized I hadn't taken a one!  We were working like crazy preparing quilt kits to take to the show....and then I realized that I had put "less than 3 weeks we are going to market".  Well I don't know what calendar I was looking at but it was actually less than 11 days before we leave.  OMG!  I have to wash clothes, pack, finish up everything at my "real" job and make arrangements for everything at my house to be taken care of.....EIGHT DAYS in Houston....this means I have to pack double of everything I usually pack and sack up twice as much cat food as I normally get ready.  (I have a lot of feral cats out of doors that I feed and I can't let them not eat while I am gone.)

But good things happened too!  BP who has been feeling a little under the weather rode with me to the quilt shop and brought the quilt she had finished for the shop sample....wait til you see it!  I promise I will go by today or tomorrow and take a picture.  It is beautiful.  She whipped out her little featherweight and went to work on her tiny blocks of last year's BOM.

Patti (our little energizer bunny) was cutting fabric and packaging quilt kits with the help of Nydia.  Then when they took a break after lunch I taught both of them how to make a twister mug rugs.  Patti is leaving to go on another quilt retreat and she cut out all of the fabric she needed to sew up while she was there.

Mike was back to pick up his two quilts that Beth finished machine quilting for him and to make the binding for them so he could bind them on the plane home for a visit with his family and to see his new grandbaby.

Brenda had a family reunion to go to but she got us started and then helped us finish up when she got home.

We are going to have some beautiful quilt kits for sale in Houston.  But we are going to market too!  So we can bring back lots of ideas for 2013 at the shop.  I am so excited.  I always put too much on my plate after going to market.  So many talented beautiful people go to the festival.

Thanks to everyone who entered our contest and please keep visiting us to see what is happening.

Martha

Houston here we come.....

Less than 3 weeks away....

Houston here we come....

8 days of drooling....

 

fabric, patterns, kits, demonstrations, embellishments

and oh so gorgeous quilts.

 

I am so excited....can you tell?

 

Are you going?

 

I blogged about my latest adventure on my blog....

Living Life...One day at a time

 

Since I work full time I don't have time to finish a lot of complicated quilts....

enter rag quilts...

I can put them together...wash them...dry them...and I have a precious quilt.

 

When we were cleaning up at the shop the other day, Brenda found an entire box of books that she had forgotten about. I fell in love with the Strawberry Shortcake slapplique and I tried it. It was so easy and fast.

 

Turning Twenty Slapplique by Tricia Cribbs.

 

 

I love this fabric line, Olivia by Michele D'Amore for Benartex, Inc.

 

Beautiful and delicate handkerchiefs were the inspiration for this collection by Michele D’ Amore. Olivia has lush cabbage roses, elegant paisleys and plaids.

I could just see this soft antique looking fabric in a soft lap throw....

so I made a sample block.

 

By the way....Mamas Quilt Shop...has seven bolts of this wonderful fabric!

 

 

 

Now this is a 2009 book...but it is fabulous for those of us with small amounts of time.  There are 6 patterns in this book and all are easy to make.  Brenda is selling these for $12.00 plus shipping. 

 

But wait....don't tell Brenda...

I am giving away a copy!

And enough fabric to make your own sample block!

Just like mine!

Leave a comment on this post,

let me know if you like rag quilts or if you are going to Houston!

Easy peasy!

 

Now...if you have a little more time on your hands...

blog about our give-a-way and leave me a second comment telling me about it.

You will get two chances to win!

 

I will draw the winners name Saturday morning, October 20th at the quilt shop over coffee and donuts.

 

And that's not all....

visit us everyday until we leave for Houston to see what special we will be offering

or

what I will be giving away to some lucky blogger!

 

Have a great day!

 

 



Our new quilting friend....

 

Mike is a FEMA rep who is staying in Covington....

rather than sit around and waste his time while staying in a hotel...

he does this.  For the last two Saturdays he has joined us for a day of sewing...

He finished this beauty and made arrangments for it to be quilted and bound.

 

 

So glad he chose us to sew with!

 

Anyone can...come on down on Saturday, bring your sewing and enjoy the day with us.

 

Brenda missed this...she was at a Quilt show in Hattiesburg, Ms.

 

Oh....start watching our blog....we will be starting the countdown....

you know....Houston....

 

I am so excited!

Fall in Florida

Mother and daughter.....

 

 

Mother and daughter.....

 

Our Fall Florida Retreat was fabulous!

 

We packed up our bags and off we went....

We had a new guest this time....

 

Patti...the quilting version of the "Energizer Bunny"...

 

this woman just wouldn't quit....

 

look at this....

 



And don't let anyone tell you that quilting isn't a dangerous hobby...

but she kept on going....

 

Brenda was no slouch....

 

 

Kits are available at Mama's Quilt Shop...got to have one...or two....



 

She finished 3 and started on a fourth one...

 

Dawn was determined to finish her quilt....in between trips to the beach....

Isn't it beautiful!

 

And me....of course....

 

My twisters...

 

My rag quilt.....

 

And a sample of one I want to make....I am loving these rag quilts.

 

 

A little of this...

 

and a little of this....

 

And in case you doubted what I called her...this is a bird's eye view of Patti...sitting by the pool....in the hot sun....quilting a quilt while she was waiting on us to finish upstairs.

We had to do some serious cleaning...thread snippets were everywhere!

 

We really appreciate my boss,  Mr. Edward and his lovely wife, Janice for sharing their beautiful condo with us.  We are already planning our spring retreat.





The answer is blowing in the wind....

Good morning everyone!  I am embarrassed that it has been so long since I posted, but hey, life happens.  And here in Louisiana it has been happening.  Mamas Quilt Shop is still standing despite Hurricane Isaac rolling thru here and dumping a whole lot of water in our lap.

This is all gone now, but there are still quite a few people in Louisiana under water and our prayers go out to them. 

 

Brenda, along with her mother, daughter, grand-daughter and sister made their bus trip out west along with 30 or so other quilters.  They made it to 8 quilt shops and brought back goodies.  BP and I stayed behind and worked our fingers to the bone...yeah, right!

 

But they were barely back when we had the Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler Shop Hop.  For those of you not from around here that translates loosely to "Let the Good Times Roll".  And that is what everyone did.  There were 9 shops in South Louisiana involved and I have never been able to go, but it must have been a blast for the one's who did!  They sure seemed to be having fun.  I did not get any pictures and I truly regret that because we met some fun ladies and gentlemen during those three days.  One group from the Sorento-Gonzales area had us in stitches (no pun intended) when they left.  They are all kin and I would love to attend one of their meetings....I bet there is never a dull moment.

 

Brenda invited me to go along to the quilt shoppes meeting the following Saturday.  Even though Hurricane Isaac was threatening they had a good meeting, made some plans for shop hop 2013 and enjoyed getting the winner's baskets ready.  I was jealous...you should see the goodies they won!

 

And I just had to show a few pictures of what our wonderful quilters have been inspired to do...

 

Look at this twister!  Wow!  I told her it was easy!

And look at this take on Brenda's 1600 quilt!  So creative.

 

Nydia, Brenda's newest employee made the cutest rag quilt..

 

It so inspired me....I couldn't wait to make one....so I did....

 

 



Oops!  See the mistake....seam ripper here I come, but when I finished and turned that row around I was thrilled with my little rag quilt.  It was my first rag quilt, but it won't be my last.  It was so nice to be finished when I put that last row on.  All I had to do was wash and dry it.  And soft, oh so soft.

 

So Isaac hasn't stopped us...just slowed us down a little.