More Moose Challenge Results!

Even though the MooseChallenge didn't get many entries, the ones that were submitted are outstanding!

Below is the entry from Judy Damon. The circles are actually cut out from the quilt. Judy told me that she had lots of fun browsing around in antique shops looking for old keys. The quilting is unique, too. The wallhanging is quilted with sayings that all have to do with "keys".

Notice how Judy incorporated the large and small Churn Dash Blocks through her clever use of color.

Another creative entry is the one pictured above, submitted by Muriel Corcoran. She calls it "The Key of G". Muriel explained to me that when you sing the notes the way Julie Andrews did in "The Sound of Music" (Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do...), the note on the quilt is "So", which sounds like "sew". How clever is that??!! I never would have figured that one out on my own!

Thanks for your participation ladies! I love them all!

Moose Challenge Results

Hello readers!

Back in March of this year the Moose Challenge got underway and we had about 20 people express an interest in participating. The design elements were randomly selected, and the deadline was set for August 10th.

Even though e-mail reminders were sent to the challengers, I am disappointed to share that this is the only photo that has been sent in as of today. (The original plan was to post photos of all the quilts on this blog and have the public vote for viewer's choice.)

This whimiscal rendition was designed by Marie Seroskie of Katie Lane Quilts. The design elements to be included were: the colors green and fuschia, a circle, a Shoo-Fly quilt block, and a "key". For those of you who know Marie, she is not only an accomplished quilter, but a talented pianist as well....so it is no surprise that she chose a piano key rather than the type of key that unlocks a door.

Thank you, Marie, for accepting the challenge! You did a great job!

The "Moose Challenge" process of designing can be a good one if you are stuck for an idea and need a jump start when designing your next quilt. Here is the process:

1. Set out 4 or more empty paper bags.

2. Fill the first bag with individual slips of paper that have names of colors on them.

Fill the second bag with slips of paper with shapes on them.

Fill the third bag with names of quilt block designs.

Fill the fourth bag with names of "things" that could be included in your quilt.

Additional bags could include more colors, quilting techniques such as "applique" or "paper piecing", etc. Allow your imagination to run wild!

3. Draw one slip of paper from each bag.

4. Now try to combine some or all of those elements into a quilt design. Even if you never actually make that particular quilt, the design process might just be the jumping off point that gets your mind thinking in new directions.

I know that somewhere out there, other Moose Challenge quilts have been completed. Even though we won't have a viewer's choice vote, please send me your photos so I can post them for all to enjoy. Send them to chickensoupdesigns@yahoo.com.

Sincerely,

Kristi Parker

Chicken Soup Designs

Amherst, NH

http://www.chickensoupdesigns.com/

International Quilt Market Update

I returned recently from my very first International Spsring Quilt market, held this year in Pittsburgh. What an incredible experience and WHAT A BLAST!! I was there at the invitation of Nancy Dill, my publisher at QuiltWoman.com to introduce my new book "Moon Dance" to the professional quilting world.

There is so much to tell about those five jam packed days that I will only mention a few of the highlights. My purpose, in addition to promoting my book, was to network, and network I did! I took a workshop with Jennifer Chiaverini, the authour of so many wonderful Elm Creek Quilt novels, met Mark Lipinski (who gave me a big hug), fabric designer Amy Butler, the president of Kona Bay fabrics Douglas Eagleson, Vicki Dar, editor of Asian Fabrics magazine (a division of Kona Bay and Seattle Bay), The editor of McCalls Quilting magazines, and dozens of designers, distributors, fabric company representatives - the list goes on. The show was so enormous it began to feel pretty overwhelming at times., but the connections I made were wonderful and I could never have made them without being invited to take part in this biannual Market.

Two fabric companies have asked me to make projects for them and have each given me very generous amounts of fabric in return (Kona Bay for Asian Fabrics Magazine and In The Beginning fabrics, using a brand new line: Folklorica); I have an "in" at McCalls and possibly Quilters' Home for submitting future articles or designs; made a number of new friends AND, best of all, my book "Moon Dance" is selling very nicely!

As you can imagine, it was a pretty intense few days but SO worth it! And it was fun to go out after Market closed in the evenings to try out different restaurants with Nancy Dill and her staff and designers. What a great group of women. In spite of being totally exhausted every night I have not giggled like I did with them in a long time. I took a lot of photos at the show and around downtown Pittsburgh and will post some of them soon.

Cary Flanagan, Designer

Something Sew Fine Quilt Design

http://www.somethingsewfine.com/

http://www.quiltwoman.com/

Quilt Block Dash - Serene in Pink

Purple Moose Designs is participating in the Quilt Block Dash “Serene in Pink” which runs from April 1-10. Quilt Block Dash is an online hide and seek game just for quilters. You dash to the participating shops and find the Quilt Block Dash creative image. With each found image you will reveal part of the instructions for a quilt block. If you visit all 14 shops and find all the images, you will have all the instructions and patterns needed to complete a quilt top. Your name will then be entered for a chance to win fabulous prizes (FREE FABRIC!!). Visit www.quiltblockdash.com to register – hurry, it starts tomorrow!

And just to tease you - I have seen the quilt that you will be getting the instructions for and it's beautiful! Quilt Block Dash is a lot of fun, I hope you'll join in.

Terri Sontra
Purple Moose Designs
http://www.PurpleMooseDesigns.com

It worked!

I am so excited to report that my experimental workshop to test out my Round Robin in a Day concept was a success! I had 10 vicitims join me for the day at Bunkhouse Quilt Shop and we had such a fun day of creating, designing, eating, laughing, and listening to me swear at and threaten my sewing machine at every turn (more on that later).



Everyone arrived at the class with a 8.5" block that was to be used for the center of the round robin. Most people had pieced a block in various levels of difficulty, but a few had opted to just cut an 8.5" block out of a pretty fabric. Either way worked perfectly.


My concept had been that I would pull a technique or element to be incorporated into each round out of a hat just prior to that round. My concept also included the idea of each round taking 1.5 hours. Both concepts were tweaked a bit as the day went on, but at least we started out that way. Best laid plans and all that.


The first technique pulled from the hat was "flying geese". Imagine my shock when my group of intermediate level and up quilters contained people who had no idea what a flying goose was. Thankfully a participant or two had brought along some books on borders, and we were able to show what a flying goose was. The entire border didn't have to be flying off to Canada in a gaggle, but there had to be a goose somewhere in there. The second round had to contain a triangle, and the third we opted to do as quilter's choice.


I got a rather interesting perspective on this class as I was not only leading it, but participating as well. I can definitely report that the timed requirement was as stressful for me as it was for everyone else, but unfortunately that can't be helped in a class like this. It was definitely a unique experience to see one of my classes from a student's point of view. I'm happy to say I think held my own against many other more famous teachers that I have had. If your shop or guild might be looking for a fresh new workshop idea, I'd be glad to help out!

Thank you to Joanna Martinez who took these photos and allowed me to steal them from her own blog. You might want to check it out for her perspective on the class as well! http://appliquetoday.blogspot.com/ Thanks also to Wanda Makela, owner of Bunkhouse Quilt Shop, for always encouraging me and allowing me to hold this class in her shop, and for arranging such a yummy lunch.

Because I was more than ready to throw my sewing machine across the room the entire time I was leading this workshop, I came home and finally began shopping for a new one. "It is about time", I know you are all thinking. "How long has she been complaining about the one she had? It seems like forever." It has actually been approximately 17 months and 20 days, about one week less than I have owned the thing. But it is all in the past now, as I am the proud mommy of a brand new Janome 6125 QC, which after 2 weeks is still on my nice list. It's a new record! My guild retreat/coming out party for my machine is next weekend, and I figure if I make it through then without incident, I will be able to fully open my heart to it and love it forever. Right now I am understandably relectant to fall completely in love with it after my last machine.

Welcome Spring!

What do hardy snow people do on the first Saturday night of SPRING to welcome in the new season? Why, have a cook-out of course! No problem that there's still enough snow on the ground to be measured in feet and that the fire pit is buried somewhere under all that snow - we will not be deterred!

Our family does a cook-out a little different than most. We cook over an open fire. Naturally, we have the usual cook-out fare but we also do fresh bread, stir-fry, cobblers and....well, the list is limitless. I take great pleasure in trying to figure out how to cook foods that would normally require a stove or oven and do it on the open fire.

We built our pit last year from granite that was reclaimed from a building that collapsed the previous winter from the snow. The building was part of a summer camp and had a massive fireplace. I also have some of the white bricks from the interior firebox of that fireplace. I plan to make an oven for our fire pit out of them this year. Then I will be able to do some serious baking!

This spring kick-off-cook-out had a simple menu, gourmet hot dogs, fire-pit potatoes and stir fry veggies with peach cobbler and s'mores for dessert.

Thanks to my hubby who spent 3 afternoons chipping away the hard snow to find the fire pit and thanks to our friends who joined us. Everyone had a fun time (even though only 1 was smiling in the photo!) and no one went hungry (as usual). Can't wait until the next fire pit!

p.s. That's me in the black sweater in the back fixing up some more s'mores for the kids - not facing the camera, as usual!

Terri Sontra

Purple Moose Designs

http://www.PurpleMooseDesigns.com

http://nequiltdesigners.blogspot.com

But look at this one! And a free pattern for you!

Here is my miniature version of the antique quilt pictured in my posting below. It was a fun project to work on during my snow day. Because I wanted to rotary cut it, rather than using templates, I fudged the dimensions a bit to simplify measuring and cutting. So- the patches are not true golden rectangles, but they are close.

To make this little quilt, which measures approx. 17 1/2" x 19 1/2", you will need two fat quarters (a fat quarter measures approx. 18" x 22") plus one 1/8 yard piece of fabric. Non-directional prints work best. You will also need a 20" x 22" piece of low loft quilt batting and a 20 x 22" piece of backing fabric.

Label one of your fat quarters Fabric A, the other one Fabric B. Your 1/8 yard piece will be Fabric C. In the quilt above, A is the medium fabric, B is the light one, and C is the dark fabric.

Cut 4 strips 1 3/4" x 22" from Fabric A for outer borders

Cut 27 pieces 2" x 3" each from A and B

Cut 10 pieces 2" x 1 3/4" from A only

Cut 2 strips 3/4"  x width of fabric (approx. 40-44") from C for narrow inner border

Cut 2 strips 1 1/8" x width of fabric (approx. 40-44") from C for binding

Referring to photo above, join 2" x 3" A and B rectangles into pairs. Join 3 pairs into a strip. Add a 2" x 1 3/4" rectangle to each strip. Press seams toward the darker fabric.  Stitch rows together so alternate rows begin with the smaller A rectangle. Press all seams in one direction.

To add inner borders, measure the length of your quilt top vertically down the center. Cut two 3/4" C pieces to that measurement. Stitch one to each side, press seams out.

Measure the width of your top across the center, Cut two 3/4" C pieces to that measurement. Stitch to top and bottom of quilt, press seams out.

Measure, cut, and stitch outer border pieces from A fabric in this manner.

Layer and baste your quilt top, batting, and backing. Quilt as desired (I free motion machine quilted a simple loop and leaf design- click on picture to enlarge). Bind. Quilt can be displayed either horizontally or vertically.

Happy quilting,

Barbara Chojnacki

Six Gables Designs

www.sixgablesdesigns.com

undersixgables.blogspot.com

Not all antique quilts are pretty

This sad quilt, dating from the late 1800's, is my most recent addition to my quilt collection. The main portion is machine pieced from two very similar double pink prints and a nearly identical double purple that has faded to a muddy grey. Apparently it was not large enough, as at some point a haphazardly stitched hand-pieced border was added (obviously NOT designed to complement the rest of the quilt, but click on the picture and see if you locate the antique bit of cheater cloth on the border). Okay, I'll admit it, the quilt is homely, but it was so cheap!

What IS interesting about this quilt is the proportion of the rectangles. Have you ever heard of the "golden ratio"? This is a mathematical ratio, 1:1.618. I first came across this applied to quilting in Jinny Beyer's  highly recommended book, Quiltmaking by Hand. She includes a lovely pattern, inspired by an antique quilt, in which the rectangular pieces are "golden rectangles", rectangles with the proportion of length to width of the golden ratio.

Looking more closely at my quilt, I realized the rectangular patches were not the typical 1:2 rectangles. I got out my tape measure and calculator and lo and behold, my quilt was also made of golden rectangles! Naturally I had to make one of my very own. Stay tuned!

Happy quilting,

Barbara Chojnacki

Six Gables Designs

www.sixgablesdesigns.com

undersixgables.blogspot.com

The Moose Challenge is ON!!

What fun it has been to hear from quilters all over the country who offered phenomenal suggestions for the possible design elements for the 2009 Moose Challenge!

All of the ideas were put into a hat and the following design elements were pulled out....
Colors: fushia and green
Shape: circle
Thing: a key
Quilt block: Shoo-Fly

So now the fun begins! Design and make a quilt, no larger than 24" x 24", incorporating the above design elements by July 31st, 2009. There are no other "rules" ....just let your creative juices flow! Any kind of technique or embellishment is allowed. Once your quilt is finished, please send a photo to me (Kristi) at chickensoupdesigns@yahoo.com. I'll post the photos so that we can have our blog readers vote for their favorite quilt in August. The viewer's choice winner will receive a goodie bag of quilter's treasures!
ANYONE can participate, even if you didn't send in design suggestions earlier. Tell your friends, and start digging through your stash for that fushia fabric!
I can't wait to see your masterpieces!

Happy stitching!
Kristi Parker
Chicken Soup Designs

Trunk Show Presentation

Recently I did a Trunk Show for the Souhegan Valley Quilt Guild in Milford, NH What a fabulous time we had! I have discovered that I absolutely love presenting trunk shows of my designs and everyone there was really appreciative and welcoming. The only down side to this presentation was that I had to drive home in a blizzard with visibility so bad I almost went off the road a couple of times. The joys of living in northern New England!

Anyhow, I brought some of my earliest quilts just for fun (to show everyone how far I have come since I began designing and making quilts). I also brought ALL 28 quilts which will be featured in my new book, “Moon Dance”. We were lucky enough to be able to hang most of the quilts on the walls and on a couple of large quilt hangers and the rest we held up to show around the room.

It was a really impressive to be able to see all of the quilts together in one room, most likely the last time they will be all in one place (except as photos in the book), since some of them had to “go home” to their owners. However, the wonderful group of quilters who made so many of the quilts (in addition to my own) have been kind enough to offer to loan them to me whenever I need them for future trunk shows and to take to Pittsburgh in mid-May, when I present the book to one of the two major wholesale quilt shows in the country.

I want to publicly thank Lise Belanger, Nicole Boucher, Teejay Christopher, Trudi Costa, Eleanor Flanagan, Regina Frederickson, Anne Hatin, Denise McKinnon, Lillian Oczykowski, Peggy Rogers, Shirley Stockmeyer and Sue Ann Walker, members of my Guild, Amoskeag Quilters Guild (Manchester, NH).

A huge thank you also goes out to several very competent testers Diane Reichle, Kari Lippert, Debbie Shepard and Patti Oakley (of Batiks by Design ), for your thoughtful and constructive feedback on my original “Moon Glow” pattern as well as for the beautiful quilts you made for my book.

I also want to thank the Quilt Pattern Testers Yahoo Group for being a wonderful resource to quilt designers everywhere. I needed only to post my request for testers and was flooded with responses from all over the country!

And special thanks to Nancy Dill, of QuiltWoman.com for showing interest in this project and offering to be my publisher, and to her capable staff of graphic artists, editors and proofreaders.

Everyone has been asking me “so when is this book going to be available??” The short answer is SOON – we are in the very final phase of editing and tweaking before going to press. So hold onto your hats and watch for the BIG ANNOUNCEMENT coming to a newsletter or blog near you.

There's Still Time....

....to sign up for my newsletter, that is! Purple Moose Designs will be issuing the premiere issue of our newsletter "Moose Droppings" real soon. It will go out monthly and will have quilting tips and tid-bits, sales and coupons just for our readers, guest authors, recipes, spotlights on tools and notions and more. Best of all - it's FREE! So head on over to the website http://www.PurpleMooseDesigns.com and enter your name and e-mail in the boxes at the bottom of the home page. Hurry, before it's too late. You'll want to be the first in your quilting bee to have "Moose Droppings"!!!

Terri Sontra
Purple Moose Designs
http://www.PurpleMooseDesigns.com

It's 8:00...do you know where your needles are?

On Monday of this week, President's Day, I attended a fabulous Open Sew with several quilting friends from my guild. There really is just nothing like spending nonstop hours sewing with no one asking you to do anything else, like find a particular Barbie shoe amid the rubble of plastic doll finery, or run pell-mell to throw a 2 year old on the potty before the dam bursts. Forgetting all other responsibilities and watching a little silver needle go up and down all day is really just pure bliss now and then.

So one of my quilting friends, Jill McCaffrey, brought these little cupcake pincushions as "favors" to the Open Sew. Apparently besides being an amazing and artistic quilter, Jill is also quite the little crafty chic, and whipped these up for everyone the night before the Open Sew. I just had to have this yellow and pale green one as it matches my studio perfectly - so perfectly, in fact, that the first photo I took of it on a shelf against the wall was unusable because it blended right in. Seriously, how cute is this thing?

So, being as thrilled as I was with my new cupcake pincushion, and also being the proud owner of one of those ubiquitous tomato pincushions that was probably given to me by Santa about 25 years ago and was completely falling apart, I couldn't wait to move right into the cupcake! After I had transferred all the pins, I started in on a few needles.

But here's where it got freaky. As I gently squeezed the tomato (something they frown upon at Hannaford), more and more needles started showing up, poking right through the fabric. After I pulled the first ten or so out, with no end in sight, I decided I had to start counting. Then I decided I needed to take my rotary cutter to the tomato and perform a complete needle-ectomy. By the time I was done, my tomato was beyond splattered:

and I had found a total of 49(!!!!) needles of all sizes inside. Now, I knew I had been losing needles now and then, but 49? I almost hesitated to even admit I could be so disorganized as to misplace 49 needles and not even really notice.

So the moral of the story? If you are missing needles, take a rotary cutter to your pincushion. And be careful when you squeeze the tomatos.

Beth Helfter, EvaPaige Quilt Designs

The NEQDC Moose Challenge

In two weeks we will be embarking upon a Moose Challenge adventure, and you are invited to participate in the fun! What the heck is a "Moose Challenge", you ask?

Well, those of us from New England know that a moose is a rather gangly, awkward looking creature that looks like it was fashioned by God with a bunch of leftover parts all stuck together...so…….

A Moose Challenge is when seemingly unrelated elements are combined in a quilt project. Here is how it goes....everyone who wants to participate writes down (we will do this via e-mail) two different colors, a geometric shape, a "thing" (it can be just about anything), and a traditional quilt block. I will then write the ideas on slips of paper and place them into small bags. One design element will be drawn out of each bag, at random, from the submitted entries. Design elements will be posted here on the NEQDC blog on March 2, 2009.

The challenge is to come up with a design that incorporates all of those elements, somewhere in the quilt. The elements can be part of the design itself, fabric choice, quilting, surface embellishment- whatever you can think of! The challenge quilt will be limited to 24”x24” or smaller. There are no other specific rules. Anything goes!!!!
I did this exercise with some quilting friends many years ago and was amazed to see what people came up with. It really got my creative juices flowing!
One lady just couldn't figure out how to work the traditional block design into her quilt, so she made one and used it as a label on the back!!


Photos of the completed The Moose Challenge entries should be sent to Kristi Parker (address below) by June 30th, 2009. Blog readers will vote for their favorite entry, and the people’s choice winner will receive a quilter’s goodie basket prize!

Anyone who is interested may participate in the challenge. (You do not have to be from New England!) If you choose to participate, please send the following to Kristi Parker at chickensoupdesigns@yahoo.com :
Your name
E-mail address
Two colors
A geometric shape
A “thing” (it can be your favorite thing, or something totally random)
A traditional quilt block

Remember to check back here on March 2nd for the chosen design elements, so you can get started on your Moose Challenge!
I look forward to hearing from you!

~Kristi Parker
Chicken Soup Designs
Amherst, NH

Free workshop full!

Thank you to everyone who expressed interest in my free workshop at Bunkhouse! I have plenty of participants now, so I am going to have to close "registration" at this time so that we don't have so many people that we are all falling over each other. I am thrilled with the response and hope that this will only be the first of many Round Robin in a Day classes that I teach!

Beth

FREE Workshop announcement

All those in the Southern New Hampshire/Northern Massachusetts area who might want a fabulous day of quilting in a gorgeous classroom space in the most amazing quilt shop ever....READ ON!

To go along with my group quilting trunk show, I am currently also developing a workshop to focus on group quilting. Wanda Makela, owner of Bunkhouse Quilt Shop in Lyndeboro NH, has graciously allowed me to hold an experimental class in her classroom space as I hone this workshop on March 7, 2009, beginning at 10am. This is type of workshop is something new for me, so I am offering the chance to several quilters (first come, first served, reservations required) to come join us and basically take a workshop for free in Wanda’s fabulous classroom space while we work out the kinks. I of course hope the kinks will be few, but a trial class should bring most of the biggies to light. If it is a total bust, at least Bunkhouse is an awesome place to sew and shop, and you really can never go wrong with a day of sewing and shopping! Or so I am hoping.

The workshop will be a Round Robin in a Day, wherein quilters will work together to create a 22” wall hanging for each workshop participant. Each person participating will start with their own block (why not use a UFO block of appropriate size?), but will surrender that block to the whims of three other participants in the workshop, who will each add borders to the center block. The spin I am putting on the round robin idea is that the techniques and/or elements of each border round will be determined just prior to each round by that age old decision-making method, drawing from a hat. At the end of the workshop, each participant should have a completed 22” square quilt that reflects not only themselves but the unique ideas and approaches to quilt-making of his/her fellow workshop participants. A willingness to allow others to dictate the direction of a piece you started and the abilities to work well in a time-sensitive environment and to move from one task to another easily are requisite to this class, as well as the completion of the center block prior to class.

If you think you might like to participate, please let me know as soon as possible at evapaigequilts@charter.net, and I will send you a list of supplies so you can start gathering things together.

It's done! Sort of!

The piecing part, anyway...



Presenting the "Syncopated Ribbons Group Quilt", by Julie Davis, Laura Davis, Barbara Fischer, Sue Fors!, Jennifer Gierke, Beth Helfter, Deb Koczela, Martha Lorshbaugh, Emily Peach, Nancy Peach, Terri Sontra, Mary Beth Stevenson, Eddie Tarabey, Steven Tarabey and Vanessa Tarabey.

I am so thrilled with how it turned out. Fifteen quilters took me up on the idea of making 8 “half-blocks” plus a border portion each, so we ended up with a gorgeous lime, purple, and aqua quilt that is somewhere between a full and queen size. It is amazing to me when I look at it that no two quilters seem to have used the same fabrics; I could never count the actual number of fabrics contained in it, but there have to be over 150 at least. The project is both multi-generational with the ages of the participants ranging from 10-68 and multi-genderational with two young boy quilters participating. Once quilted, the quilt will become part of my new trunk show, “Plays Well With Others”, which I plan to have ready for debut by the 2009-10 guild season.

Two year old waking up from her nap, so I'll be back tomorrow to post details of a free workshop I hope some of you might be interested in!

Grownup Snow Day

Remember how, as a child, you used to wish for a snow day? I still do. I'm one of those crazies who actually LIKE shoveling snow (although cleaning off the car is another story altogether), and since I don't have human children, a snow day off from work is a Very Good Thing. Especially when I have a quilt project in progress.

Yesterday was a snow day for me, and I put it to good use machine quilting a two-color version of Grandma's Scrap Bag. I want to show quilters that my patterns do not have to look just like the cover picture (made from late 19th century reproduction fabrics). I had long wanted to do this in two ocean color batiks. I quilted it in the allover pattern known as (depending on which machine quilting book you read- I've got a bunch of them) teardrops, paisleys, petals, or clamshells. I prefer to think of it as oyster shells, as I'm considering eventually embellishing it with some pearls!

How do you spend your snow days?

Barbara Chojnacki
Six Gables Designs

A New Year's Resolution

I would like to encourage everyone to make a resolution to share the passion and excitement you feel about quilting with a youngster or a beginning quilter. Those of us who want the quilting industry to flourish can make a difference by taking a "newbie" under our wing and teach them how to make a quilt!

You can start with a very simple design, and just use scraps from your stash. It might be fun for your student to go with you to your LQS to pick out the background and border colors.

Here is a simple lap size quilt (40" x 48") that I made recently, entirely out of scraps. It is fun, colorful, and quick to make.

Simply cut forty, 4 1/2" squares and one hundred sixty, 2 1/2" squares. The smaller squares are pieced into four-patch blocks, and alternated with the larger squares. I bordered the quilt with strips that finished to 1" and 3" wide, respectively.

If you are working with a child, it might be easier to tie the quilt rather than quilt it. Kids like to see fast results!

If you have any specific questions or would like to see other ideas for simple quilts that kids (or beginning beginners) can make, feel free to e-mail me at chickensoupdesigns@yahoo.com.

Please share photos of the quilts (and their proud makers) with me, and I'll post them here, if you wish.

Happy New Year!

~Kristi Parker

Chicken Soup Designs

Goodbye 2008…Hello 2009!

This is the time of year when most people look back over the past year’s accomplishments and forward to the New Year, with new goals and new hope and, hopefully, with renewed enthusiasm.

I have to say I am pretty happy that 2008 is finally over. What a challenging year! But I am happy with what I have accomplished in the past year and I am optimistic about the future.

Looking forward to next year, I will be going to Pittsburgh in May at invitation of Nancy Dill, QuiltWoman.com, to introduce my new quilt book, "Moon Dance" at the annual International Spring Quilt Market. I am thrilled to be able to go! This will be a real first for me!

I want to go to both the International Quilt Market and Quilt Festival in Houston next October. My quilting friend Cathy (from Florida) has suggested we meet there. That is an important goal for me and I will find a way to make it happen.

I am looking forward to more teaching opportunities; I have two trunk shows scheduled and would love to do more; I am currently working on a commission to be completed in January and hope for several more; and finally – I am contemplating writing another book in the next year or two. No rush deadlines this time, especially not right before Christmas like I had this year! And, of course. I want to get some new individual quilt patterns finished and on the market.

I want to continue growing my design business while also still enjoying my life. I want to continue to expand my skills and try branching out in new directions in my designs, my writing and my quilt making.

So what are your goals and aspirations for the coming year? Are you optimistic about the future or do you have your doubts?

I am a true believer that if you really want something and focus completely on that goal, visualizing it as if it has already been achieved, you can have anything you want or reach any goal. It is called the Law of Attraction and much has been written about it in recent years. Trust me, it works!

I wish you all the very best in the coming year! Keep those creative juices flowing!

Cary Flanagan

Something Sew Fine Quilt Design

http://www.somethingsewfine.com