Late Night Quilting

It's late, I am tired. I should go to bed but I have a quilt almost loaded. Extending my Grace frame to queen size today wasn't that bad, with my Mom's help :) I am so excited to have our 'princess' quilt nearly finished that I must get it on the frame and ready to quilt tomorrow, or today, depending on how you look at it. I promise to take pictures and post a real post, not like these midnight rambles.
Happy sleeping or quilting, you choose ;)

Jet Lag and Applique Quilts

As a newbie to trans Atlantic trips that jet lag thing hit me like a ton of bricks. Whew, glad that's over. My girls and I are getting our grove back and things are looking like the beginning of summer in our corner of the planet. We are looking forward to a good and safe long weekend at home with a to-do list as long as your arm.

So my machine was so over due for a service it was sad really, so she is off for a spa day and should be back soon, good as new. For now I am toying with a Dresden plate, English paper pieced and I found some mylar templates that worked quite nice for my first attempt. I love the hand sewn projects but time, boy they take time.

I found a wonderful charity quilt pattern that I simply must try it looks so good. Then I did a little digging and it is a disappearing nine patch block pattern. Then I went looking for layout ideas, the sky is the limit but that was a favorite. So I am off to bed with dreams of tomorrow and a great day with my ladies in the studio and a disappearing nine block top to show for it.

Happy Quilting

Applique Quilting in Dubai

Life has a way of bringing you to places you don't know you need.

Today was a good day, we have been in a beautiful and foreign city for over a week now, so many of the last days have been good, but today was particularly good.
What on earth am I doing in Dubai? You are not the first to ask and I have asked myself that question so many times I have lost tract. Well a husband in Oil and Gas and an opportunity we had to fully investigate equals two weeks in the United Arab Emirates. We will see what the future holds for us but for now here we are, the best news - quilting is here too.
I had the absolute pleasure to meet and talk quilts with my new friend, Mala Ramakrishnan today. She, her husband and a growing group of support personnel work to promote and develop a lively quilting community within the Middle East. Classic Quilts & Quilting now has two locations in Dubai, as I learned today.
I was nearly panting I was so hot as I entered Mala's store, this heat has me worried for the summer weather yet to come. She was so accommodating and offered me a chair and a glass of water, its seriously that hot - only 35° I guess today but 41° yesterday. We talked machine applique quilts an quilting and I loved every minute. I drooled over the long arm loaded with a customer's quilt and got even more excited to learn of two guilds in the region, one here in Dubai and another in Abu Dhabi (about an hour away) The bank road store is primarily dedicated to the quilting side of their business and I look forward to visiting the beach road location with excitement second only to seeing my beautiful children in a few days. As the Bernina retailer for the region, I am also looking forward to a new sewing machine when that time comes. I was so excited to touch the fabric and enjoyed a wonderful few minutes of comfort in a wonderfully strange place. I left with a few new fat quarters and all the basics for a small project for my last couple of days by the pool. I am so thankful for a hobby that brings real people from real corners of the world together, it was truly a good day. I think I will make it two in a row and navigate myself to Jumeria and see what the other store has to offer. I will take some pictures and let you know the results. Miss you girls, Happy Quilting

Princess Appliques

Well we are in full princess mode and loving it. Her highness, our three year old regularly consults and is approving. We have the main top machine stitched and assembled, inner borders are on and outer borders are cut. The biased cut vine is pinned in place and today has been flower central. We chose an 'old friend' and added a new twist for the flowers. The Lazy Daisy applique pattern makes it's return and now has a really great flower bud applique to go with it. Can't wait to show pictures of the finished machine appliqued quilt top. For now take a peak at The Pattern Place facebook page for more photos. SO much fun, hubby is home with dinner, got to go :) Happy Quilting

Here comes Spring

Well the weather is definitely changing, soon green grass and trips to the lake. We have weathered this winter quite well, my girls love to play in our play room and I love to watch them from my sewing room. All we need to do now is add french doors to the rough opening, right hunny? Not sure he reads this but it's worth a try, right?

It has been a productive last few months for us here at The Pattern Place. My first magazine publication, Take Good Care was published in the Spring issue of Quilter's Connection Magazine.

The theme of the magazine was, green. I wrestled with so many ideas and finally this applique pictorial came through. I am quite proud if the detail and symbolism. The hardest part was scaling my design back to fit inside the magazine. I hope readers enjoy and that someone is inspired to create this entire project or add some parts to their own project design. I am looking forward to future publication projects, it is so fun to see your name in print. :)


Farmyard Friends machine applique pattern is now finished and available for download from The Pattern Place Online Store. Here is the completed 45" x 45" quilt.



In a few weeks our Princess Patricia machine applique quilt pattern will be ready. My 3 year old is especially excited about this new pattern. She comes into the sewing room and asks "how is my princess coming" Just fine is my answer, so cute. I am fighting the urge to go princess crazy and develop more and more projects. I might have to earnestly think about that one, appliqued pillow sham or covers, a couple of different princess quilts and of course a princess doll! The sky is the limit. I am told several times a day that I "forgot the dragon on this one MOM" so sassy but maybe so right? Who knows, if only there were 36 hours in each day?


We are truly blessed and look forward to the next few months, who knows what will come through my sewing machine. Happy Quilting

The Pattern Place has a new look

Well, with some toil and a little struggle the renovations to
The Pattern Place web presence are complete, mostly. We are still working a few little bugs out - so if you see any please let me know :) I am now re-focused and excited about new patterns and maybe some new pattern example projects, we will have to see.
I have been invited to join a wonderful quilting group and I am absolutely loving it. It is a real joy to be with other quilters and breathe in their energy and creativity. Thank you ladies, I look forward to the next few months and some great afternoons.
My three year old and I decided that we need a St. Patrick's Day decoration for our house. Love that. So, if the day goes as planned she and I will have a shamrock banner to show for our efforts. So fun. No pictures yet but maybe tomorrow?
Happy Quilting


We had such a great day making our shamrock banner, follow the link to see a picture of it nearly finished. We added and green 3" border and tried a new to me binding/backing technique. It all worked out quite well. Love you big girl.

Thread Storage for Applique Quilting

Ahh I love good gadgets, ones that keep me slightly organized are especially good. So my latest treasures are the Bobbin Mates from EZ quilting. Love them. I like to keep the bobbin and thread close together, just in case I need to know where they both are :) Some projects just have to have the same color in both the top and the bottom and so with these nifty little things I can still store my thread and keep their 'mate' at hand. I am patiently researching the perfect thread holder still but soon my collection will require its own storage solution. So much fun.

The sewing room received a good clean and sort, even purged a few things! So I had to take a picture -it won't look this way for long. New patterns are on their way from The Pattern Place and I am in the mood for a quilt just for me, crazy I know. We hope that Spring is in the air at your house like it is at ours, Happy Quilting.