Merry Christmas!!! As I sit here tonight I have to admit that this season I have been thinking how Mary must have felt when she found out she would be having the Son of God. After watching the Miracle of Christmas in Branson, I have to say that seeing Mary so excited when she found out the news was quite a different perspective for me. Can you imagine what she felt and having to tell Joseph and her family? Wow, it is hard for me to comprehend! - My gifts are all wrapped and ready to go. I finished everything yesterday so today I focused on cooking. Things didn't start out so well. I make a recipe for mashed potatoes that takes sour cream and cream cheese. It is a great recipe as it can be made the day ahead. Anyway, I made the lumpiest potatoes I have ever made. I called my sister, Kathy, to tell her she would be making them next year, but she said she knows they will be just fine! Anything to get out of making the potatoes! Then I am making the strawberry pretzel salad. I forgot to add the sugar with the pretzels and butter. Let me tell you, it doesn't work without the sugar! I went to put the second layer on the pretzels and the pretzels were like powder. I dumped that in the garbage and started over. Luckily I had pretzel rods from cookie baking and used them instead of the small pretzels. I'll let you know how they turned out! Well, I need to grab my knitting and watch "White Christmas." That is one of my very favorite movies and I love the song, "Count Your Blessings." On this Christmas Eve I count my blessings for all of you and I thank God for the greatest gift that he gave me - JESUS!!! Have a Blessed Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas to all

I think my family will be so shocked. This will be the first time in years that all presents given will be completed before not after Christmas. They won't know how to act. Well, I must say I like the feeling. Praying that your loved ones as well as mine all safely get where they want to go over the next few days. Check our latest newsletter at our website for the shop hours and information about the sale soon after the new year! Beth for QG

Are you ready?

Are you ready for Christmas? If you are, kudos to you! If you aren't, join us here at Quilter's Garden. We have two sew days--tomorrow from 10-5 and Monday from 10-5. Come and join the fun as we all try to get ready for the BIG DAY. - We have some great last minute gift ideas ready for you. Of course, you can always make a pillowcase using our easy pattern, make a book cover out of Shannon, or give one of our neat notions. We just love the new binding tool. They are $9.99 and would make a great stocking stuffer. Since Armida's hands are getting sore, I actually had to do some bindings and I can't believe what a difference the binding tool made. No more sticking myself with pins or losing them in the chair! - I don't know about you, but I get so much satisfaction giving a gift that I made. I decided that instead of making a "bucket list", I would make a quilt list of people I wanted to give quilts to. I have already crossed off the first name on my list. My cousin, Wendy, and I don't trade gifts, but I wanted her to have a quilt. I dropped the quilt off yesterday at her mom's and my aunt is going to deliver it to Massachusetts next week. - Christmas stirs up so many past memories for me and I have to remember to slow down a bit and recall all of those wonderful times and to also remember the reason we are celebrating this season.

TaTa for now,
Carol

Why do good things have to end?

Well, it's already the final evening of our visit to Branson. Yesterday, we shopped the historic downtown of Branson as well as an outlet mall. We ate at two restaurants we discovered and liked last year--a hamburger joint for lunch decorated in a 50's style and The Fish House at Branson Landing (a new downtown shopping area). Carol and Beth went to a performance in the evening by Debby Boone and the Country Tonite band and singers. It was a fabulous program! Today, we shopped again (we all accomplished quite a bit of Christmas shopping) and went to an afternoon performance by Christian singer and comedian, Mark Lowry. His piano accompanist was Stan Whitmire. Both were awesome, gifted and very inspiring. Oh yes, while at the Debby Boone concert, we learned that a very well known friend of Debby's was in the audience and we asked to have our picture taken with him after the concert. Can you tell who it is from our photo?
Well, we need to get to bed, up early and on our way home tomorrow. Just a reminder that the shop opens up again on Thursday, December 3.
All for now, Beth & Carol

Greetings from Branson, Mo,
Carol,Beth and our friend Linda have just arrived today in Branson and we had a startling revelation by Linda once we got here. She saw a very good looking man with a great body, and unfortunately an attractive wife. Oh well, she said she at least realized she's not dead.
After getting lost a few times under the direction of our fearless leader, Carol, we finally made it to our hotel, rested a few moments, then headed out for a couple hours of shopping. Our evening was definitely the highlight of the day when we went to the Sight and Sound Theater to see an amazing performance of The Miracle of Christmas. This was a fabulous rendition of the birth of Christ.
Well, tomorrow will be another full and fun day, but Linda and I agreed that Carol is no longer the navigator.
Ta Ta,
Beth & Carol

Oh my, our brains are on overload (okay, no comment from anybody)! We had an EQ6 class taught by Susan Knapp. Carol and I took the class also and we are of course, ready to go quilt design crazy. There are just endless possibilities to do with this program. Hurray for the creator of EQ6. Want to get in on this class next time we have it? Just give us a jingle or send an e-mail. We will post the dates when chosen for either late February or March.
Our friends, Mary and Billy brought in this gorgeous quilt that we helped choose fabrics for and we had to take a pic. The pattern is called The Man Quilt and the pattern company is Perkins
Dry Goods. Isn't it boo-ti-ful? Billy is such a great supporter of his wife's hobby. She showed us her book of photos of the quilts she has made. This is a great way to record one's accomplishments over the years. We recommend labeling quilts also for the benefit of future owners.

New Accu-Quilt Go Owners

We have some new Accu-Quilt Go owners and we want to share their photos. Sherrye is on the right and has only owned hers a few days. She has already cut hundreds of pieces and is planning to make a quilt for each of her grandchildren for Christmas. Bonnie is a brand spanken new owner and we know she is going to quickly make plans to use her new toy.

To see the available die shapes, you can go to accuquilt.com and look through the choices now in stock. We feel sure that more designs and shapes will be coming over the next months.

We had Sew Day today and as always it is fun to see what gals are working on. We had purse projects, quilt borders being put on and a microwave potato bag completed during the day.

It has been a full day!

Aunt Sewzy Strikes Again

Aunt Sewzy and Beth had a great time last night doing our program for a group of ladies at the Coal City Public Library. The library had quilts on display throughout the building for a one month period of time. And that was the most "happening" library we ever saw! There was so much buzz and activity and so many events going on. They had children's story hour, craft tables, teens on computers, adults in easy chairs reading and then the tea in the back room with the sewing group. It wasn't a noisy place, but there was an undercurrent of fun and activity that we have never seen at any other library. If you ever drive through Coal City, stop in the library--it was way cool!
Oh my--it's Christmas again today: more pre-quilted fabric arrived, our Aurifil thread has been replenished, Bali Pops (2 1/2" pre-cut batik strips) in 6 new colors, more flannels, fishing fabric, new Ackfeld quilt hangars, and lots more. Gotta go and work on checking it in.....

Aunt Sewzy

Oh what fun we had yesterday, November 1 doing our Aunt Sewzy program for the fund raiser for Hospice in Sterling, IL. They had a beautiful quilt show, refreshments and then our program. We invited Carol's nephew to be part of the program and sing "Downtown"! Yes, the song done by Petula Clark years ago. Don't tell Aunt Sewzy, but I think Clayton stole the show.
This is the time of year that lots of you gals get the knitting needles clicking and we have been getting some beautiful yarns in as of late. I know my needles click at night until my hands hurt.
We still have two openings in the EQ6 class for Sat. Nov. 14. Carol and I hope to sit in on it also and get a better handle on using the program.
We will be closing early, Nov. 5, Thursday, as Aunt Sewzy will be on the road again.
Keep on quiltin',
Beth & Carol

When shipments arrive, it is like Christmas. We just love to open boxes! We just received a shipment of yummy, scrumptious new yarns. More colors of cotton that are great for dishcloths, more colors in the worsted weight, some sock yarn and a brand new fiber--linen yarn. We have a simple knit jacket pattern to make with it. Also, I recently heard that there is a knit scrubby pattern that calls for linen yarn. We will have to google for that pattern. Anyone know about it? Oh, almost forgot about the Alp Premier yarn in more colors for the diagonal knit scarf we have on display--it is our best selling yarn and the pattern is free with the yarn purchase.
Hey, we have Knit at Night tomorrow night the 27th of October from 5:30-7:30. It is too dreary to do anything else, so why not come knit with us? Bring any project you are working on (some embroidery gals are coming too) and join us for the evening.
Speaking of shipments, the Accuquilt Go just arrived and we are so excited, we have to start setting up the display right away. All for now--Beth & Carol

Bus Group Visits

Wow, we had such a fun day yesterday with 43 neat ladies who visited from the Northwest Suburban Sewing group via bus. They descended in two stages, as they split time with Old Times and us. We shared demonstrations of some of our favorite tools, patterns and techniques. That's quite a feat for us because we are so shy--at least that's what Carol says.

What are our favorite things you ask? You did ask, didn't you? Well, we love the Zip Clip for bindings, the sixty degree ruler for border print tablerunners, Shannon fabric for blankies that are as soft as a babies bottom, and tablerunners made from our precut tumbler blocks.

Our thanks to Joan for being the fearless leader of your bus group! Come back and visit again anytime.

Why is it when you want to take a baked good to a special outing it never turns out as good as if you were making it for your family? AARGH!! I was making ice cream cone cupcakes to take somewhere and as I was baking them, I looked in the oven and noticed they were over flowing!!! I didn't have time or supplies to make them again so after I took them out of the oven, I peeled away the cake from the side of the cones. I then frosted them and had these really cool Halloween decorations to put on the top. You know what? They didn't look too bad when I was all done. We see this all of the time in the quilt shop. Not with food, of course, but with quilts. So many times, a quilt top gets put together and then as you are looking it over, you see a big mistake. I figure there are 6 things you can do. #1. Live with it. If it doesn't bother you that much, then let it go! #2. Embellish it. Can you put an applique over it? #3. Rip it out and redo it. #4. Declare it an Amish quilt. Only God is perfect. #5. Don't tell anyone there is a mistake. Nine times out of ten no one will even be able to see the mistake unless you point it out. #6. Give it to someone who doesn't quilt and they will love it! (This one is my favorite!!!!!!) Remember, quilting should be FUN!!!

TTFN

Sew Day

Today is our sew day and the word for the day has been colonoscopy. I know you are all wondering what the word colonoscopy has to do with quilting??? Well actually it has nothing to do with quilting; however, there has been lots of laughing going on and that is what quilting is all about - laughing, comradery, fellowship AND if you get some sewing done while spending time together then that is a bonus! One of the ladies who had a colonoscopy recently said she had prepped for the procedure and followed the directions her doctor had given her. Of course the directions say you are not to eat anything after midnight. Her son picked her up at her house early in the morning and had stopped to get himself a breakfast pizza at Casey's. Was she hungry? You bet!! As he was sitting in the hospital enjoying his breakfast, our friend said to the nurse, "What do you do with a son like this?" She said, "Easy, take him out of your will!" - Along with all of the fun, I have actually gotten some sewing done. At market, we purchased 13 bolts of Shannon fabric. You can go to shannonfabrics.com and look up cuddle. It is the softest and smoothest fabric you will ever feel. Beth and I have lots of projects planned for it and I already have one finished. Of course I can't tell you what it is until the pattern is done, but it has something to do with what we have been talking about in previous blogs. Yes, you are right. It is a book cover. Are you thinking Christmas presents? I know we sure are! Well, I'm sitting back here in the office and I just saw Beth throw her hands up in the air and twirl around in the class room so I better go and see what I missed!

TTFN

Goose Bump Moment

It's been a busy day at the store. Janice brought back the Christmas Row Throw all quilted. I can't wait for the big unveiling at Garden Club next week. (Of course there are a few of you who already got to see it.) - Remember yesterday I told you about the flight attendant who loved my book cover? Well, I just got an e-mail from Eulonda and she has sent the book cover off to Sharon, the Delta flight attendant. But, what is soooooooo neat is that Eulonda has not even talked to Sharon. She just made the book cover for her and put it in the mail. In Eulonda's email letter to Sharon she said, "I do most of my quilting and sewing as a hobby and I have lots of fun doing the various things. I really don't like to sell things, then it isn't a hobby anymore. The only payment I want for it is for you to "Pay it Forward" someday when you can do something for someone else." Do you have goose bumps yet? Isn't that something? Quilter's are the best people on the planet!! I sure hope Eulonda doesn't mind me sharing her story. We hear so much negative in a day that I just thought I would share a wonderful positive. - Beth and I have been choosing the fabrics for the retreat projects. We purchased another pattern book from our friend, Karin Hellaby, while at quilt market. So, we will now offer two different projects. One is a pineapple techique and the other is an attic windows 3-D project. The ladies who went last year will get first dibs; however, if you would like to get on the waiting list, just stop in and get your name on the list. Till the next post.....

TTFN

We're baaaaaaack! Beth and I are definitely flying on adrenaline today. We got to my house at 12:00 AM which means Beth got home around 12:45 AM. There were storms in Houston and Atlanta so our planes were delayed. It is always fun to meet new people in the airport while we are waiting. I know, Beth and I are so shy that you're wondering how we got the courage to talk to a stranger; but we went out of our boxes! We sat by Janet who is an article writer for the magazine, Sew News. How interesting! We shared a room with Susan Knapp (from the Quilt Branch) and she was also on our flight home. We told her how we had purchased a lot of pre-quilted fabric and wanted her to design a specific bag/purse for us. I don't know about you, but I love a zipper in my purse and those patterns seem to be a little harder to find. While waiting for our plane, she opened her computer and designed as we told her what we liked. SOOOO COOOOOL. Which reminds me, check out our class list as Susan will be doing an EQ6 class for us in November. For those of you who know Susan, you know what a computer guru she is and also a fantastic teacher.
Oh, the neatest thing happened on the plane. My friend, Eulonda Gries, made a book cover for me. It is made out of ultra suede and has my initials on the front and back. Anyway, I was reading on the way home and the flight attendant came by and said, "WHERE did you get that book cover?!!!) I told her my friend had made it for me. She said she has been looking for one forever and can't find them. I told her I would contact Eulonda and see if she would make one for her. She headed straight for the galley and came back with her name and e-mail on the back of an airline load requirement paper. (Never seen one of those before.) I called Eulonda immediately this morning and she is going to contact her. So, if you see a flight attendant on Delta with her own monogrammed book cover, you will all know where it came from! Since you all know how I love to read, we purchased paper pieced patterns from A Very Special Collection for checkbook covers and book covers. We will be having a class on these very soon. What great Christmas gifts they will make.
One more great purchase was a pattern to make Spa Therapy Bags. Believe it or not, the shoulder stress suressor and the eye bag are filled with corn! Since Beth and I are both farm wives, that was a "must purchase" pattern. The designer said that corn retains the heat longer than rice. Sounded good to us! Wouldn't that make a great gift for your favorite quilter friend or someone who has shoulder or sinus problems?
Well, must get back to pricing all of the new patterns and books.

TTFN
TaTa For Now

Second Day at Market

It's 10:45 PM and we are just getting time to blog. It has been a busy day at market. I took a machine applique class from Beth Ferrier and absolutely loved it. Actually, I was a class crasher. I tried to get into the class before market and it was full. So, I just went to the classroom and hung around to see if there was someone who wouldn't show up. It was my lucky day. Beth has one of the newest notions out for applique since sliced bread. Can't wait to share it in the store with you. Are you curious? I knew you wouldn't want to wait until we were home. It is a water soluble stabilizer that you use instead of freezer paper. I learned so much from her in class. She is my favorite teacher as she is such a great educator and fun too! - Beth and I are also pictured with the girls from Buggy Barn. Their book had one of the greatest quilts at market. Janet and Pam are just great. (Notice we are on a first name basis!) - Well, I must pack. This is so hard as we can only have 50 pounds in our suitcases. Our carry on bags get a little heavy! - Of course the best thing of all is getting to see my sister, Nancy, while at market.. Her friend, Hilda, and she came down to Houston tonight and we ate at Josephine's Italian Restaurant.

Quilt Market Opening Day

Oh my, Carol and I have just completed our first day walking the market floor. There are 21 aisles of vendors and lots of new and exciting ideas. Now we have to decide what to order and bring home to the shop.

We have decided to become Accuquilt Go authorized dealers! That is the fabric cutter and equipment for home use. One can cut many layers of fabric at one time and be ready for fast piecing of many different patterns.

We also met Amy Butler and really like her fabric line this fall. We will likely be ordering some tomorrow.

I took a zipper installing class from author Linda Ghee and made a zip cosmetic bag in less than one hour. Yippee!! That's my idea of a great gift idea. Do I see a class in the future at the shop? You bet!

Wow! It is so much fun hearing from those of you who are following our blog. Beth and I are frantically getting projects ready for the girls to do while we are at market. Actually, Beth is buzzing around here a little faster than I am as I worked in our yard on Sunday and pulled a muscle in my leg. So, I made a note to myself and said, "Self, no more working in the yard." If I had been quilting or knitting, that would have never happened! - We almost have our center pieces put together for our next year's block of the month. They are really turning out great. You'll have to stop in to see them or join us on Oct. 20 and 21st for Garden Club. We are just starting a new year and we feel it is one of the best deals in town. Just $25 for a year of fun and learning. No need to call ahead, just show up at 10 AM on Tues. or Wed or 6 PM on Tues. Of course we go to the Mexican Restaurant (Los Ranchitos? or something like that) for supper on Tuesday evening at 5 PM. Join us if you can. As I sit here I think about all of the friendships that have been made at Quilter's Garden. Aren't quilters grand? Well, it is almost closing time and I need to get home to finish my packing. Oh yeh, Beth already has her things out to be packed. That is pretty scary. She says she doesn't like to pack early because she always forgets something. I wonder what I will have to bring to her rescue this trip!!! Ta Ta for now!!!

Quilter's Garden First Blog

Yes, we finally got with the times! We are blogging! Oh, this is fun!!! We just have so much to share that we felt it was imperative to begin! Beth and I have begun our quilts for next year's Garden Club. They are turning out great. As our e-mail blast said, we are doing them in country and batik. I wonder which of us is doing country and which is doing batik? - In the knitting end of things, we just ordered some new Plymouth yarns and Swedish yarns. We have really been scouting for yarns to make prayer shawls. It is such a wonderful ministry and I saw the comfort given to my roommate from college last week when she wrapped in a prayer shawl after losing her 16 year old son. It still gives me goose bumps when I think about her putting it around her! - We will look forward to blogging and keeping you posted on "what is happenin'" at Quilter's Garden. Be sure and mark our blogspot as a favorite on your computer and in the future we will have a link from our website. Ta Ta