notes from Terry Ann

Count Me In

 

Time to start the countdown for our Designer Blog Hop! We have a great group of designers - six from Minnesota and six from all over the country. We're getting ready for the holidays with some easy projects for you to make just in time for gift giving. But first we want to have a little fun!

This Wednesday you'll have a chance to get to know us a little better - our "little" selves that is . . . Each designer will post a baby picture (not their own) and you can guess whose picture it really is. HINT: My picture will be the cute one! 

Beginning on Monday, November 9th, we'll each take a turn giving you instructions for a fun little project. Each day we'll all share holiday stories, recipes and photos with you. I can't wait to get started!

Nov. 9th. Gudrun: http://www.gudrun.typepad.com/
Nov. 10th. Sandy: http://www.piecesfrommyheart-sgervais.blogspot/
Nov. 11th. Terry: http://www.terryatkinson.typepad.com/
Nov. 12th. Pat: http://www.patsloan.typepad.com/
Nov. 13th. Heather: http://www.ankastreasures.wordpress.com/
Nov. 14th. Pam: http://www.pamkittymorning.blogspot.com
Nov. 15th. Kari: http://www.newleafstitches.com/blog
Nov. 16th. Terri : http://www.whimsicals.typepad.com/
Nov. 17th. Sherri: http://www.thisandthatpatterns.typepad.com/
Nov. 18th. Carrie: http://www.lavieenrosie.typepad.com/
Nov. 19th. Roseann: http://www.rosebudscottage.typepad.com/
Nov. 20th. Linda: http://www.lindalumdebono.blogspot.com/

Celebrate early and often!

Turn simple rectangles into stunning triangles with this tree skirt or table topper. Use fat quarters for two-tone triangles or use up leftover strips to make strippy triangles.

Here is our design wall at the shopowner's retreat last summer - it's fun to see different shapes emerge with different color placement!

An Easy Escape

It's time to celebrate - my new patterns are ready! Today I'll show you the quilt - stop back tomorrow for a peek at the new table topper. The new quilt, Fire Escape, is a "five yard quilt" - use just five prints for the lap size - 1 yd. of each. Of course I included a twin and queen size too. This one was really fun to make because it took on a whole new personality in each different fabric combination. Here's part of a twin size quilt on my design wall - I put the rows up sideways so that I could see it better while I was working.

We had fun testing this pattern at our summer shopowner seminar. Here are some of Patti's blocks:

Laurel used brights:

Debbie used batiks and Chris chose fun florals.

A world of fog and light

I wasn't too excited to walk over to Navy Pier - to me it sounded like a bunch of tourist stuff. Boy was I wrong! The walk over was interesting - lots to see - and beautiful weather. Look at how cool it is when the fog creeps in around the buildings.

 

From Navy Pier we couldn't even see the skyline - but we did enjoy the stained glass windows in the museum. What a variety of styles! I could have stayed twice as long and snapped pics of every one - here are just a few of my favorites. WOW!

 

 

 

 

Art all Around

Kirk and I are spending a few days in downtown Chicago, and there's art everywhere you look. First look UP and enjoy the skyline and the clouds:

Next, look DOWN. Here's a fun little tar guy that was in the middle of the street. I saw another one a few blocks later that was painted yellow. Anyone know anything about these guys?

 

We walked past Columbia College and found some creative student garments in the window. We may be missing Project Runway while we're in Chicago, but this almost makes up for it!

The gardens in Grant park have a few extra large flowers and insects!

 

The Miracle Mile is a stretch along Michigan Avenue with lots of shopping. But I'd rather look at the gardens, buildings, and artwork. I made Kirk wait till I got a good picture of these "quilter tiles".

what a fun shop!

I had a great day at Tammy Tadd's in Sycamore. I met lots of wonderful people and enjoyed the bright, fun atmosphere. Here is the entrance to Tammy Tadd's studio - which is just above her shop. Tammy's attention to every detail shines - in addition to her love of everything pink and green. I love the pink weber grill! (hiding behind the railing)

And here is the view from the porch - this is just part of the shop!

There were so many fun little nooks and crannies to look at - here is one of my favorite little displays:

Way too much to see in just one visit - I'll have to go back again! I want to see all of the holiday decorations - I heard there will be lots of lights!

A vintage beauty

Here's the Yellow Brick Road quilt that won viewer's Choice last year at the quilt expo in Blue Earth. It is a labor of love - made by Tracy Petersen from Ledyard, IA. Tracy set her blocks on point and included lots of vintage linens, chenille with an assortment of pastel prints.

Look at this close up of all of the different styles of quilting that Tracy used in her blocks!

Colorful Blue Earth

Kirk and I headed down to Blue Earth last weekend for the The 26th Annual Upper Midwest Woodcarvers and Quilt Expo. The Jolly Green Giant was there to welcome us. I wonder if quilters made his HUGE shirt? And how on earth do they get the shirt over his head - he looks friendly but I don't think he bends . . .

Tracy (in red) invited us down to the show to see her group's challenge quilts. Here I am with just a few of the 12 quilters who exchanged blocks from our Confetti in the Corner book. After they exchanged blocks, each quilter put the blocks together in a different way. Take a look at these amazing quilts - no two alike! I looked at all of the quilts several times before I realized that they all started with the exact same blocks!

 

The woodcarvers displayed their projects on tables in front of the quilts and several of them sat working on projects during the show.

 

Can you believe the variety of amazing quilts? Next year's challenge will be a block exchange using civil war fabrics - with positive/negative color placement. I can't wait to see what they up with - too bad we have to wait a whole year to see them.

Rain rain go away

I went to the Powderhorn Art Fair on Saturday. The day started out with a bang - thunder, lightening and a wild storm with lots of rain. After the sun came out, I took off for the art fair. But I took the long way there, stopping at a few quilt shops along the way . . .

At Eagle Creek in Shakopee, the flowers outside were lovely - and they even brought some inside.

Here's a homegrown blossom sitting on a Club Sandwiches table runner from the Let's Do Lunch book. And here are a few more of the flowers just outside the door:

Next, I stopped at Fabric Town in Apple Valley - and I got so sidetracked by the cute displays that I forgot to take any pictures! I headed north toward the art fair, and got a perfect spot to park almost right in front of Glad Creations quilt shop - which is amazing since they are just a block away from the art fair. There was a bus right next to the shop - and I thought it was an art fair shuttle bus, until I opened the door to the quilt shop. The shop was wall to wall quilters from one of the Quilt Minnesota tours. What a lively, happy group! And there were good flowers too:

 

I walked over to the art fair, and right when I got to the park it started raining. From inside the porta potty it sounded like a hail storm, but outside it was just a drizzle! I enjoyed the soaking up all of the colors and inspiration (and the rain) even without an umbrella.

 

Here are some of the artist's tents lined up around the lake - it was nice leisurely stroll around with lots to see - and not too crowded. There was yummy kettle corn too! A perfect day.

Take a break

When you're doing all that driving and shop-hopping, you'll need to stop for a potty break. Might as well visit a great quilt from Happy Hour! Go to The Cre8tive Quilter to find out more about how Jen made her shower curtain - it's fun to see her before and after pictures.

Explore the world!

While I've been busy exploring Minnesota quilt shops, my son Derek has been exploring the world. Here he is at the Great Wall of China.And below, another interesting view of the Great Wall.

Growing up with a quilting mom has trained him to notice geometric patterns even when he's halfway across the world - look at this great brick wall that he spotted in Beijing.

And here is the first picture he took in Seoul - gotta love all those doors!

 

He even found a quilt shop - you can see his reflection in the window taking the picture. It's fun to know that Sunbonnet Sue is a world traveler too!

Explore Minnesota

 
I took this picture on my way home from the seminar in Wisconsin - in honor of the state wide shop hop that started on Friday here in Minnesota. How many of you have seen this exact sign? Hint: if you had to go to the bathroom right after you crossed the state line . . . yup, it's at that rest area between Hudson and Woodbury on I 94.

I bet you can guess which Minnesota quilt shop had these Atkinson Designs projects on display - the clue is the monogrammed bag! You're right - it's Rosebud's Cottage in North St. Paul. The monogrammed bag is from Fat Quarter Fonts, and the Taco Salad table topper in yellow and green is from Let's Do Lunch. You'll have to stop in the shop to see if the Waffletime table runner is the long version or the square version - only part of it is in the picture.

Roseann had a great trunk show from Cherrywood fabrics - and if Kirk hadn't been waiting in the car I might still be there trying to decide which "cherry roll" to get. I liked the "Bright and Happy" colors with red yardage, but then I put them back and grabbed the "Smooth and Sandy" neutrals. Then I put them both back and grabbed the "Rich and Sparkly" Jewel tones . . . and then I switched - you guessed it - about 5 more times. I ended up with these two, and I can't wait to use them!

It was such a beautiful day that Kirk and I walked a few blocks over to Neuman's for lunch. It's one of the oldest bars in the state - open for 121 years, even during prohibition. We had really good hamburgers and onion rings.

Here's a snapshot of the view just outside the door - these guys were enjoying lunch on the patio. It's a good thing we walked to Neuman's because our minivan would have looked silly in this lineup!

reading, shopping, getting inspired

Look what was in our newspaper this week - an entire page about Erin Olson, who has some fun blogs about color. My favorite, House of Turquoise, is all about the color turquoise . . . and aqua, teal, ocean blue, and robin's egg blue - you get the picture! She has lots of fun photos of rooms that show off her favorite color. Many great ideas. Erin also has some shopping blogs - one for every color you might want: Black and white delight, Chocolate blues, Pop of red, Pink and green scene, Just blue and green, etc. She shows home decor and other things with links so you can shop in addition to getting distracted - oops I meant inspired!

I found myself here!

I snuck away from the retreat right after our lunch at Tep's and headed to the airport for a quick trip to California for another college visit. The weather was COLDER than in Minnesota!!  But we still went to the beach, a couple of quilt shops, and we spent some time in Carmel by the Sea. When we pulled into town, Kirk found a parking spot right away - and look where we parked - right in front of some steps with quilt blocks along each step! Wait a minute, maybe those are decorative tiles.

As we wandered around town, we found a few more interesting stairways. Megan spotted this staircase before I did. I see pine trees near the top - are you sure we aren't in Minnesota?

These tiles are just like quilting - the tiles can be all in a row next to each other or arranged with alternating plain blocks. Look at the interesting border of tiles along the wall - I like how the large and small tiles alternate to fill in next to the stairs.

Here's a shop called "Lucky Stars". It had nothing to do with quilting, but it did have interesting tile under the window. I probably wouldn't have even noticed if we hadn't seen the stairs first.

 

We ate a great Hawaiian pizza at Red Brick Pizza. This tile border went all the way around the restaurant - you can see it just inside the doorway. The shapes are so interesting that I didn't notice right away that there are only three colors of tile. What fun!

Show and tell

 

Here's some show and tell from our retreat in Wisconsin. Mary from Country Garden Quilts in Ishpeming, MI showed a beautiful Winner's Bouquet quilt. She said that after she made the first few blocks, her husband took over and finished the whole quilt! The templates made the rotary cutting very accurate and he thought the blocks were easy to sew.

Chris from River Road Quilts in La Crosse, WI showed a Snapshots quilt from our Happy Hour book. What a great way to show off some beautiful batiks!

On our last day, we ate lunch at Teps Drive In in Augusta, and Jason's crew made some great food for us. If you are ever in Augusta, say hi to Jason and definitely order the loaded fries! The root beer floats are out of this world too . . .

What fun feedback!

Thanks to everyone who visited yesterday - what fun to hear from so many of you! I loved hearing all of your ideas for using the Sock Sack - now I'll have to make a few more for myself! And I've had a fun time clicking and visiting some of you - I definitely need a longer day! After the Minnesota Designer Blog Hop is over, I'll post the winner of the book and pattern, so be sure to stop back and check to see if you are the winner!
 
Here's Nancy's bag - she made it yesterday lickety split and sent a picture - plus she already has plans for a red and white one. I think it took me longer to choose fabric to match my zipper than it did for Nancy to sew the whole bag. If anyone else has finished a bag I'd love to see it! Just send me an email at terry@atkinsondesigns.com

Cheryl has been busy making samples for the classes she is teaching for her local quilt shop's Minnesota Road Show. She just finished this Farmer's Market Tote from our Let's Do Lunch book.Way to go Cheryl!

Today Shelly from Cedar Canyon Textiles will share "Easy Pantstiks Placemats" with you - hop over to her blog and enjoy meeting her and learning a really fun technique. Remember to comment each designer so that you will be eligible to win one of the three grand prizes. See you again tomorrow!

R is for Rosebud, Rosette, and stRawberry

I love visiting Roseann's "hideout" in White Bear Lake.  There is always fun stuff to see and do! Roseann decorates with the letter "R" and has more than a dozen different R's tucked into cute displays. This week she hosted a get together of Minnesota Quilt Designers and we each got to decorate a notebook. It didn't take us long to make a mess!

 

The first thing I did was cut my paper the wrong size! No problem, Roseann just had me sew two pieces together - and now it looks like I was creative! Look at the cute rosette I learned how to make! I couldn't decide which color of crepe paper to use so I used three colors. We got to use the diecut machine to make layered flowers - and I even fussy-cut a circle for the center with a circle punch. What a great time! I haven't had that much fun since I was a kid - I love playing with Roseann's toys!

 

Last week my friend Beth and I went to Rosebud's for a wool class. I've never made anything out of wool before and it was pretty easy. All of the pieces were precut and we just did some simple stitches. Here's my strawberry needle holder - I finished the whole thing in class! Pop on over to Roseann's blog for a wool applique demo today during our Minnesota Designer Blog Hop!

On your mark, get set, get ready!

Are you ready for some fun? We are! Our Minnesota Designer Blog Hop begins on Monday. Be sure to check out Gudrun's blog where you'll get a free pattern for an easy quilt as you go placemat. Gudrun and I had a great time "hanging out" at Market (above) and I know you'll enjoy visiting her blog! Be sure to leave her a comment to be eligible for a giveaway.

Remember to comment on all 10 blogs and your name will be entered into a drawing for a grand prize gift bag full of goodies from all ten designers! First prize: $200 gift bag, Second prize $60 gift bag, and Third prize $40 gift bag will be given away.  See you next week!

Minnesota Designer Blog Hop

Minnesota is the land of 10,000 lakes great ideas. Join us next week for a blog hop among 10 Minnesota Quilt Designers and you'll find quite a few of those ideas. Each day you can visit a different designer's blog, where you'll find a free pattern, demo, or new technique. Leave a comment and you'll be eligible for a giveaway. If you comment on every designer's blog, your name will be entered in a drawing for a fantastic grand prize!

Stay tuned for more details on Friday - the blog hop will start on Monday....at Gudrun's blog. Meanwhile, tell everyone you know about the blog hop!

Here is the lineup of great designers:

June 22. Gudrun from GE Designs 

 

June 23. Heather from Anka's Treasures

 

June 24.Celine from Perkins Dry Goods

 

June 25. Roseann from Rosebuds Cottage

 

June 26. Sherri from This 'N' That

 

June 29. Kari from New Leaf Stitches  

June 30. Terry from Atkinson Designs 

July 1. Shelly from Cedar Canyon Textiles 

 

July 2. Jamie from Scrap-bags

 

July 3. Mary from Quilted Treasures

Comparison Shopping

On Thursday we took a spur of the moment trip up to the Minnesota Quilt Show in Duluth, MN. As soon as we finished working at 2:00, we grabbed cameras, zipped through the Culver’s drive through, and we were on our way. We got to Duluth at about 4:30, and got a parking spot right in the ramp. (there was construction so this was quite an accomplishment!) Since most of the busloads of quilters were just leaving, it was not too crowded for shopping - YAY! Here are some of the quilts that we found in the vendors mall - I always think it is fun to see the same quilt made in different colors!

What a difference between these two Star Sprinkles quilts! This great display was from ABC’c of Quilting in Grand Rapids, MN.

Cherrywood Fabrics from Brainerd, MN had really neat quilting on their version of Snapshots from our Happy Hour book. I love the overlapping circles. They used their hand dyed fabrics in Rainforest colors - hard to resist touching!

These yummy blues, greens and browns were so appealing that I had to get a kit - they took the book out because I already have one . . . from Patches and Petals in Belleville WI.  I wonder what I'll make with these yummy fat quarters . . .

This black and white gem was on a table in the corner of a booth - but I was so busy talking that I'm not sure which one - maybe The Cutting Edge from Antigo, WI. It is the cover quilt from the Happy Hour book - with large blocks that show off these great prints.

 

Another completely different, softer version of Snapshots, along with a Lucky Stars quilt from Seams to Me in Algona, IA.

Block Party Studios from Nevada, IA used the words from their "Fruit of the Spirit" Fabric Panel for the center of each star in their Lucky Stars quilt.

This next one from Quilted Treasures in Rogers, MN is a little out of focus but I had to show you anyway because I love the fabrics - Lucky Stars is a perfect way to show off these fun prints! (Next time I'll have to get them to turn the lamp off - or maybe I could stop talking and hold the camera still!)

What a great variety of batiks in this Lucky Stars quilt by J & A Stitches in Juneau, WI.

We had a great time at the show, and as they started turning the lights out at 7:00 we finished up the last row of quilts. Whew, a fun whirlwind trip! Note to self: next time get there earlier!