Open Gate Blog

I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Holiday!  For those in Canada, Happy Canada Day!  For those in the USA, Happy Independence Day!  For the rest of the world, enjoy the weekend!  I am fortunate to have both the 1st of July and the 4th of July off.  Friday is my day off from my day job and Monday is a holiday here.  I am going to spend the time with Bill, Tillie and Maple.  I'm sure that most of it will be with Tillie!  She has been very restless because I have been gone so much.  Like Bill says, I'm her playmate.  She waits for me to come home and entertain her.  The weather has been fairly decent the past few days so I've been able to take her for a walk at night and throw the ball for her.  She is thrilled with all the exercise! Her hair is starting to grow a bit.  She doesn't look as much like a drowned rat or does she?!  Here she is: Remember when I told you that I was going to sew on my red and cream quilt this ...

This is my first blog tour that I'm actually running.  I've been involved in several blog tours but I decided that I would like to organize one of my own.  So, I asked several different people to blog with me and here are the blog participants: Denise from Quilter's Window Sherri from This & That Sherri from A Quilting Life Sweetwater makelifesweet Thelma from Cupcakes 'n Daisies Lisa from Stashmaster and Yours Truly We will be posting on our given day and providing you with some great projects, give-aways and specials.  Make sure you stop by and post a comment! 4th of July Fireworks bog hop starts July 4th, 2011.  Hope to see you then!

I've decided that I'm going to start a new project.  I have been traveling and working and have neglected my poor sewing machine.  I had one more weekend lecture/class this weekend and this coming weekend I get to go on a personal retreat.  I'm so excited to go, hang out with some friends and sew!  I need to have some projects to work on so I've come up with a few.  First, as you know, I have a new ruler out.  It's called the Fit to be Quarter and there is a free pattern included with the ruler.  The quilt that is featured in the ruler is currently on "tour" and I haven't seen it since Market.  That means that I don't have a sample to bring with me when I lecture.  I decided to make another version.  This time in my favorite color, RED!  Here is what I have chosen so far.  Now, you would think that I would have oodles of red to use and wouldn't need to add to them...wrong!  I am missing 2 and wil...

Today I had my interview with American Patchwork & Quilting Radio.  Pat is such a sweetheart and was so easy to talk to.  I felt like it went really well and hope that you all got a chance to listen to it.  If not, here is the link: http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/radio/index.html .  You can listen to it at any time. I'm off this weekend to Appletree Quilting and Viking Center in Columbia, MO.  I will be lecturing on Friday night and teaching Ballyseede on Saturday.  I'm looking forward to meeting everyone and seeing a new shop.  Love to visit new shops!  I will remember to bring my camera so I can take pictures.  We still have kits available for Ballyseede on www.Bundlesandbolts.com so make sure you check it out! Thanks for stopping by!

As I told you earlier this week, Tillie was getting shaved.  Thelma had commented on Old English Sheepdogs being low maintenance.  Actually, they are high maintenance and require a lot of brushing.  Because Tillie is so jumpy, she is impossible to brush.  So, we have to get her shaved.  Their hair is very thick and mats up instantly.  I'm sure that if we had her groomed every 3-4 weeks, she would be fine but with Tillie it is almost impossible.  We have a mobile groomer that comes to the house.  She is an angel and we love her!  Before we found her, it was so traumatic to take the dogs to the groomer and it was an all day affair.  I would drop them off in the morning and pick them up late in the day.  Bill and I would be anxiously waiting to pick them up and by the time we got there to pick them up, we would all be stressed.  With Maple getting older, it was so hard on her to be there all day so when we found our mobile groom...

I am so excited to be chosen to be interviewed by Pat Sloan for her radio show!  Please tune in on Monday, June 13th at 4:00 Eastern, 1:00 Pacific.  Click on this link and you can get connected: http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/radio/index.html   You can click live or hear a recording after the show.   Pat will be asking me some questions on my quilts that have been in the magazines, ruler design and fabric design plus some surprises! So, make sure you tune in! Have a good weekend and hope to see you Monday!

Sue and I just got back from a retreat that I teach at every year.  It is in Pigeon, Michigan which is in the "thumb", north of Detroit.  We have so much fun with Gail and her friends.  This was the 4th time that I have taught up there and we are planning for our 5th.  It's the first week in June every year and I look forward to seeing everyone and catching up.  I met Gail through another retreat that I teach at in January.  She asked if I wanted to come to Michigan to teach and you know me, I love to travel so I readily agreed.  I usually teach two different quilts so they have a couple to choose from.  This year I taught Crazy Eights from Fat Quarter Winners and Half & Half from American Patchwork & Quilting, December, 2010 issue. Crazy Eights  Half & Half The retreat is Friday all day and Saturday until around 2:00.  This year on Friday night I gave a lecture on fabric, book and ruler designing.  Gail had ...

It's been a while since I talked about Tillie.  She is now 9 months old.  A week and a half ago she got spayed and it doing well.  The first night and the next morning, she was drowsy.  By the time I got home from work the next day, she was back to the old Tillie.  She is a pistol!  I have been traveling a lot this past month and I think she saves her energy just for me.  I'm like her personal playmate!  Here she is checking me out. Thursday is grooming day.  This will be a first for her and will prove to be very interesting.  We used to bring the dogs to a groomer but I found a wonderful mobile groomer.  She comes to the house, plugs in and takes the dogs into her trailer.  It's so nice because these is little stress for both the dog and me.  She is very gentle with the dogs and is done in about 1 hour.  Love it!  Tillie is very energetic so I'm not sure how she will do with the groomer.  She d...