Retreat Weekend

Duck, Duck Goose! is the name of our latest pattern. This is the project our Scottie Dog Mystery Quilting Retreaters made this past weekend. It uses the Quilt in a Day's Small Flying Goose Ruler and is actually a quick and beginner-friendly quilt. Our version is Queen, but there is a smaller size too. Patterns are available now at our store.

Retreats are fun. We have quilters from all over the United States come...many of them over and over again. We have them Spring and Fall. If you'd like to come to the California Redwoods and spend a weekend quilting with us, email us at ScottieDogQuilts@aol.com.

Sandi used her floral border as a starting point with her quilt. The floral had a chocolate background so she went with a deep chocolate brown as the quilt background. Her turquoise accent really popped!

Shari chose a Laurel Birch Cat Border fabric, decided on a solid black background with bright, bright FQ's and look at how great it turned out. She made the throw size.

Ann's quilt was well on it's way to being finished when she discovered a misplaced block. She ripped it out and then posed with her beautiful quilt. Everyone was successful and chose great fabrics. Some people say they don't like working on Mystery Quilts, but we try hard to take the guesswork out of the job of choosing fabrics.

Saturday was a busy day for our family. Eureka was hosting the annual Rhododendron Festival. Every year we've taken Sydney. Since Mom & Grandma were busy at the Retreat, Daddy had to work, Grandpa to the rescue! He parked the pick-up truck along the parade route, set up comfy chairs and the W.A.I.T.I.N.G began. It always seems to take an eternity for a parade to start.

Finally! Fire Truck after Fire Truck led off the parade blaring sirens! Can you tell that Sydney loved the noise!!! She and Grandpa went up to Ft. Humboldt after the parade and rode the steam train. What an exciting day!

We made the Cover!

The May issue of American Quilt Retailer went to the printers today and Susan Fuquay, the publisher, sent me a copy of the cover! How exciting to see our name (and namesake) so prominently displayed. The issues' focus is retreats/events, etc. They called us about a month ago and interviewed us about our retreats and our "events" (e.g. Quilt Camp, Spring Fling, Fall Frenzy, etc) that we hold at Scottie Dog Quilts. Then a week later someone else emailed and wanted to know all about our Alaskan Quilting Cruise this summer. I can't wait to see it. Susan said it should be mailed May 1.

Another Pieceful Day

Last weekend I had two entire days to sew with my friends. Not as a shop owner....just as BrendaLou, quilter. It was so much fun! I've mentioned Pieceful Day before. It keeps me sane. I got the top put together for a quilt we are donating to Arcata Christian School for their Spring Auction. I'll post a picture after it is quilted.

I made this awesome blue/purple batik purse project for our cruise.

I got the handles put on Tuesday. I'm making some accessories to go with it...I made a case for my glasses, a zippered bag and I'll make another.

Here are some of the fantastic things some of the gals were working on...don't I have a bunch of talented friends?

Judy brought in this quilt for her son. She'd gotten to the blue border. Her son wanted more blue so she was going to applique the 3 blue bordered blocks on top of 3 random blocks. After we all critiqued it and tried to talk her out of the applique, someone came up with the idea of dropping them randomly on top of the quilt. Awesome!!!!!! Then added another row of blocks. This quilt rocks.

Patti with her blue stars.
Paula's---don't you love the borders?
I think this was Pam's quilt.
Angie stopped by with Cade! Everything stopped...who can resist a cute little guy? He gave me a kiss.

And here's Robin....she designs patterns for Charm squares and Jelly Rolls. She has an awesome blog. Click here to read.

And tomorrow our retreat begins. So much to tell. Later.

Internet Quilt Show

Here's my entry into the Internet Quilt Show.

It's my interpretation of "Dear Jane," a quilt made by Jane A. Stickle during the Civil War.

My quilt is called "Into the New Millennium." I started it in 1999 and finished it in 2001. It was the last quilt I could quilt by hand and my favorite. The blocks are 4 1/2" finished size. There are a few blocks in mine that are not in the original, I inserted a bow tie block for my grandpa and a basket for grandma.

Click HERE to see the rest of the Internet Quilt Show.

Enjoy!

I Held the Sign!

April 15, 2009
Tax Day.




Today we joined the estimated 1200-1500 other Humboldt County residents, held a sign, waved a flag, sang patriotic songs and stood up for our country. We stood against tyranny, pork spending, bailouts, trillions in spending putting us further and further in debt.

To watch the video, Click HERE.

There were young people, old people, toddlers, middle-agers, college students, bikers, bakers, truckers and teachers. There were even some Revolutionary soldiers and their ladies. We saw grocers, cowboys, lawyers, doctors, builders, artists, dog owners, Grandmas and Grandpas, quilters and singers. Speeches were spoken, the Constitution read, The Star Spangled Banner sung by the crowd. As the traffic slowed and drove by, they cheered, they honked their horns in agreement, waved their flags and gave us thumbs up. Only one middle finger was shown in the 2 1/2 hours I was there.

Mr. Scottie Dog and I made our signs last night.

I didn't want to use a glib phrase, I wanted to convey what I think is important and also lacking in many of our Congressmen. So I just listed some of the 12 principles this country was founded upon.

Of course I had a flag. I had gotten two of them last week. The two gals who organized this Tea Party gave out 500 flags...not every one got one. Many people brought their own flags...tiny ones, huge ones, Betsy Ross flags and modern versions. Afterwards I gave my flag to Sydney. She was so excited to get it. I think she thinks there will soon be a parade.

Thank you for all the supportive emails (and the one trying to convince me I had it all wrong), phone calls and messages.

For now, I feel good. I acted on a conviction. It's probably not the end for me, but for now.....I'll get back to quilting.

Tax Day Tea Party

Tomorrow is tax day, tomorrow is April 15....and tomorrow I'm going to hold a protest sign for the first time in my life. Tomorrow I'm going to the Tax Day Tea Party at the Humboldt County Courthouse at 11:30 am. Join me if you wish.

Tomorrow I will stand, waving the flag with hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of Americans all around the country and say to my government: enough is enough. Do not print more money and raise the National Debt so large that my grandchildren will bear the brunt of attempting to pay off. STOP FUNDING PORK.

When times are tough, my family tightens our belts and we make do with what we have, we don't spend money we don't have. In good times we save money to help us in lean times. We didn't buy houses we couldn't afford, we lived within our means. Our government needs to learn that lesson.

I have joined the 9/12 Project. Check it out HERE.

The project talks about the 9 Principles:

1. America is good.

2. I believe in God.

3. I must always try to be an more honest person than I was yesterday.

6. I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.

Read them all.

and 12 Values:

Honesty, Reverence, Hope, Thrift, Humility, Charity, Courage, are among them.

I believe America can find it's way again. I believe there is a silent majority of citizens that need to be heard. I'm not calling Republicans, Democrats, Greens or Independents....I'm calling AMERICANS. We can't bail out everyone. We need to be responsible for our actions. We need to hold people accountable for their actions. We need to leave a future to our Grandbabies.

If you don't agree with me, hey, we can still be friends, right? But I'd love for you to join me on Tax Day for a Tea Party...not in Boston (unless you live there!), but in your hometown to say "I am an American. I count."

Look for me at the courthouse. I'll be the one waving a flag.

There now, I just stepped off my soap box.

Let's Color Easter Eggs!

The brightly colored egg says it all: Happy Easter!

This morning I got my hair cut (Thank you, Yung Hee! I always feel so much better after you give me a haircut!) and picked up Sydney. We had a date to color Easter Eggs. Many thanks to our friend Cathy Ray Pierson who gave us 3 dozen small eggs from her flock of chickens.

First we rolled up her sleeves and put her apron on. I was sure that we'd have a bit of dye drips/splashes happening, but her apron is so chock full of bright Spring colors so I suppose it won't matter. Sydney thought she should color on each of the eggs first.

Right off the bat, Sydney came up with her own method for gently placing (PLOPPING is a more accurate term!) each egg in a cup of dye. Note the teeny tiny deep raspberry egg on the right! Sydney said that one is for me.After awhile, though, Sydney tried to make a few striped eggs using the wire egg holder. These holders are as wimpy as I remember from my childhood. Won't they ever make one that actually works well?

After all the eggs were dyed, Syd put on the stickers that came in the dye box. Each egg was a masterpiece. As you can see below we did well. Only thing that would have made it more fun would have been to have Jakob & Mercedes here.
Easter isn't all about eggs, bunnies, candy & peeps....it's about new life...Jesus is risen! He is risen, indeed.

May you and yours be blessed this Easter.

Buying Fabric

Today Liz and I were visited by Jan, a sales representative for the EE Schenck Co. EE Schenck Co. is a Fabric Distributor for a vast number of Fabric Companies (RJR, In The Beginning, Blank, Av-Lyn, Benartex, Marcus Brothers and on and on and on).

Some people ask why we don't order directly from these Fabric Companies and the answer is: We do it to save YOU money. For example, if we order Marcus Brothers fabrics and they ship it to us from NJ, it can add up to $1 or more PER YARD to the price you have to pay. Shipping is very expensive. But if we order the very same fabric (for delivery the very same month) from EE Schenck, it ships from Portland, OR and shipping costs is more like 10-15 cents a yard. I don't know about you, but I like to save money! (We DO order directly from several companies....we try to get the best deal for you.)

This process took us several hours to look at all the fabric lines Jan brought. She brings in these huge suitcases (note that was plural: suitcaseS) filled with fabric samples. She also showed us new books, patterns and notions....we found the cutest scissors...

These scissors should be coming in soon! I can't decide which color to get.

It's always tough narrowing down the pile of fabrics in order to bring in the best of the best for Scottie Dog Quilts! Here is just a teaser of a line we bought from Studio E: it is called "Naturology."

There are a lot more pieces to Naturology, but I just put a few of them here for you to get the feel. Liz and I both loved the birds... wrens, robins and humming birds.

Just another chore in the day of a quilt shop owner. We do it all for YOU!

Jen's Birthday Banner

My friend Jen Duncan is a talented woman. I've talked about her before but I want to congratulate her on making the Moda Bake Shop Blog with her Happy Birthday Banner. You can see the tutorial HERE and make one yourself! Isn't it fun? I think I need to make one for each of my kid's households. I have such talented friends.

She Sews, She Knows.....

I have wonderful daughters. I loved them as babies, enjoyed them as children and it is so much fun to know them as adults. I have the privilege of working with Liz, the older one. Today Liz started her blog. You might want to check it out. Obviously, you'll get a younger prospective there since, DUH! she younger than I am. The name of the blog is

Isn't that just too cute? I know her friend, Larissa, helped to design it. BRAVO!

Jakob had a Birthday!

My grandson Jakob turned 3 last week. Oh, my it doesn't seem like only 3 years ago. Here's Beka waiting patiently for Jakob's arrival.
I was there the very early morning he was born. And I cried like a baby. Grandbabies are the BEST!

Here's Jakob at his party. After all that hard construction work with Grandpa last October, Jakob had a Bob the Builder themed party. Five little friends and of course, little sis, Sadies.

I loved the cake! And it seems that Jakob and Sadies did also.

There was a part of me that felt we "whimped out" when it came to the gift part. Mr. Scottie Dog and I sent $$ to Beka since they would know best what he wanted/needed and we'd save on shipping the big box to Minn. Of course a box of little goodies & toys and Easter fun and new Easter outfits was sent from Eureka a few weeks ago, but that was a small box.

Jason and his Mum (Linda is Canadian) had a great time doing the shopping. See what we bought the Birthday Boy: A motorcycle! And he's nice enough to let Sadies ride too! Wish I could have been there, but there's time for more parties in the future.