Open Gate Blog

And the winner is: Cathy, who said: "Hops are always fun! I think I would choose sweet. Gotta have chocolate! I plan to take a look at your book. Thanks for the hop!" Cathy, please email me at info@opengatequilts.com so we can get you your book.  Thanks for participating and congratulations! Thank you everyone for commenting on the sweet or salt question.  The consensus is in, most people went for the sweets and a few went with salt.  Some even went with both - kettle corn, chocolate covered pretzels, peanuts and candy corn and my favorite: popcorn and licorice...yum!  Hope everyone has a great Memorial Day and you get to eat your favorite, salt or sweet.

Okay, this is the last installment.  Not because I'm running out of things to tell you, I'm running out of pictures!  You'd think that by now I would remember to take more pictures.  Not the case.  I wanted to say hello to a couple of bloggers that I met at Market.  First, Sandy from tp://textilehouse.blogspot.com/   She comments on my blog regularly.  She is an absolute sweetheart and when we met face to face, her enthusiasm and smile were infectious.  Here is a picture of the two of us in my booth in front of some of the quilts from Fat Quarter Winners. I also wanted to say hi to Sherri from A Quilting Life .  I met her through blogging and we finally got to meet at Market.  Poor Sherri came by my booth several times and I was out but we finally got to meet on Sunday.  Thanks, Sherri, for being so patient and I'm glad that we finally met!  She's an awesome blogger and it was so much fun to meet her!  Look ...

Welcome everyone to day 3 of the Table Talk Blog Tour!  If you haven't checked out the other days of the tour, here is the schedule: Posting every day of the week: Gudrun Erla - GE Designs :  http://www.gudrun.typepad.com/ Monday May 23rd: Kimberly Jolly - Fat Quarter Shop :  http://fatquartershop.blogspot.com/ Tuesday May 24th: Sandy Gervais - Pieces From My Heart :   http://piecesfrommyheart-sgervais.blogspot.com/ Wednesday May 25th: Monique Dillard - Open Gate Quilts : me :) Thursday May 26th: Kate Spain - Kate Spain Designs  :  http://katespaindesigns.blogspot.com/ Friday May 27th: Kansas City Star - Diane McLendon :  http://www.pickledish.com/ Make sure that you check them out! Gudrun generously gave me a copy of her book to review and use.  She is also giving a book to one lucky winner who comments on my blog.  There are several projects that I love and really want to do.  One is called Wrap it Up Runner and is mad...

As I had mentioned, one of the fun parts about Market is meeting new people and seeing old friends.  One of the new people that I had met mentioned that Alma Alan of Blackbird Designs blogged that my Fit to be Geese ruler is the best flying geese ruler out there!  I was SO excited and flattered!  I love Blackbird Designs in everything they do.  I love their applique, there pieced designs and especially their fabric.  I was so honored and I even got goosebumps!  I have been unable to find the post but if anyone does, let me know.  I would love to see it! I promised that I would show you some of my new patterns using my upcoming fabric line, Memories of Provence .  Here are they are:  Echo 61" x 85" Monte Carlo 60" x 80" Both patterns along with Secret Garden will be on my website soon. Also, Sue and I designed a Block of the Month using Memories of Provence.  We have put a unique twist on it by designing two quilts using the exact ...

One of the things that I love about Market is the people you meet and the friends that you make.  Shop owners, teachers, fellow designers, company reps, bloggers and so many more!  The exciting news that we heard at Market is about two of my favorite quilt shops.  Prairie Stitches in Oswego, IL and Vintage Threads Quilt Shoppe in Dyersville, IA were chosen to be part of American Patchwork and Quilting's Top Ten Shops for Fall, 2011!  Both shops are fantastic and the owners are wonderful. First, Prairie Stitches Quilt Shoppe in Oswego, IL.  I met Susan and Kim several years ago at Quilt Market.  They have always been so friendly and supportive.  They were one of the first shops to buy my patterns and have an extensive supply of my patterns, books and rulers.  Whenever I talk to them, they make me smile!  Both have dogs and as you know, I'm a huge dog lover.  So, we chat about our dogs, quilting and everything else in betwee...

Quilt Market was very successful and inspiring!  It was in Salt Lake City, UT this year and the people in Salt Lake were so friendly and helpful.  Joyce and I flew in on Wednesday and walked around the downtown for a bit.  We wanted to find a grocery store to get some supplies and when we asked a couple of city workers where to find the grocery store and how to get there, they were so friendly and helpful.  20 minutes later, we were on our way...sorry Thelma, we were a few minutes late for dinner.  We met Thelma from Cupcakes 'n Daisies for dinner.  She had taken 2 classes from Carrie from Miss Rosie's Quilt Co and met us in Salt Lake after the classes.  This was the second time that I had met Thelma and she is an absolute doll!  Petite and sweet!  I felt like an amazon next to her!  We had a wonderful dinner and then off to Market for set up the next day.  I put Thelma to work right away and she helped us set up my booth. ...

Hi all! Back from Market and catching up on things.  I wanted to post the Fit to be Quarter winners and then will blog more about Market later this week.  The two winners are: pcflamingo who said: "Gotta be my rotary cutter. Or my Easy Angle ruler. Or my snips. Color me indecisive." Henrietta who said: "My favorite quilting tool is my seam ripper. I use it for lots of other things not just frog stitching. It is useful to flip a seam over (or under) while stitching, tease threads out of seams when pressing or guide when curved piecing. I have always bought the cheap blue ones (naming no names) but got very tired of them simply snapping. I have been pleased with the Fons and Porter ergonomic handle one, worth every penny." Thanks everyone for participating! Look for the next blog hop to be starting next week!  It will be with Gudrun Erla from GE Designs and her new book will be featured.  Table Talk is published by Kansas City Star and is a wonderful...

Well, it's finally here and ready to go.  The Fit to be Quarter rulers are in my "warehouse" aka our garage, the printing came and they are ready to go.  I'm so excited that it is finally ready!  The ruler is designed to trim quarter-square triangles, combination units and square up quilt blocks but I've found it to be a multi-purpose ruler.  I've used it to trim 1/2 square triangles too.  It is 9 1/2" x 9 1/2".  Let me show you how it works with quarter-square triangles. 1.  Quarter Square Triangles: 1.  Start with 2 squares 1" larger than the unfinished size of your quarter-square triangle or hourglass block.  I want a 4" unfinished square so I cut my light and dark 5" x 5".  On the back of the light square, draw a diagonal line from corner to corner.  Sew 1/4" from both sides of the line. 2.  Cut on the line and press towards the dark.  Rotate one piece and place it, right sides together on the other piece....

Does anyone listen to talk radio?  If you do, have you heard of Pat Sloan's Talk Radio show?  It's on the internet and her latest venture is that she has partnered with American Patchwork & Quilting.  Isn't that awesome!? She contacted me a couple weeks ago to let me know about her radio show and asked if I would like to be a guest.  I jumped at the chance!  How exciting!  She is on every Monday afternoon and she interviews 2 designers on each show.  They talk for about a 1/2 hour.  Here is the link to her show.  http://www.creativetalknetwork.com/   I listened to it on I-Tunes but you can listen to it through the Internet as well.  Hope you can all listen in on Monday, June 13th for my interview!  Also, our wonderful talented friend, Carrie Nelson from  Miss Rosie's Quilts Co  was on May 2nd.  You can listen to past radio shows as well so make sure that you listen to Pat's interview with Carrie.  I...

Congratulations, Marlene@kissedquilts.com who said: "Recently I heard someone say it is the experiences that you can cherish not the things...so I'd have to say...after the movie....but black pearls - the jewelry are beautiful!" Thanks so much to everyone who commented on the blog tour!  The general consensus was that most people preferred to spend their money on jewelry instead of movies.  Of course, if the choice was fabric or movies and jewelry, we all know what we would choose!  I had a book signing in Rockford at Acorn Quilts this past weekend and it was very successful!  It was so much fun to see familiar faces and meet some new quilters.  Thanks everyone for coming out!  Here is a picture of me at my table with the one book that I had left...awesome turnout! Hope everyone enjoys the rest of the tour!

It just happens to start today and be my day to blog.  My block is called Black Pearl. My friend Sue asked me if I named it after the Black Pearl from Pirates of the Caribbean.  Although I like the movie, I did not name my block after the Black Pearl on the movie.  I actually thought of Black Pearls when I looked at my block.  What do you think?  Movie or jewelry? Here is my question for you to be entered in the drawing for a Quiltmakers 100 Block Volume 3 magazine.  What do you prefer - to spend your money on movies or jewelry?  I know it's a tough one!  Also, for the lucky winner who gets chosen for my blog, not only will you get a copy of the magazine, I will send you my new ruler, Fit to be Quarter.  Yes, it's close to being finished and I will have it on my website later this week!!  Make sure that you stop by Quiltmakers blog to enter your name in for the prizes that they are giving away.  I also decided to give you a f...