notes from Terry Ann

Necklace or belt?

Megan found this fun zipper necklace at Kohls - and today she's wearing it as a belt. I love it!

What's the Score?

I recently had the opportunity to go to a Minnesota Twins game at the brand new Target stadium. I'm not much of a sports fan (maybe that's an understatement), but there was an article in the food section of the Minneapolis paper that told about the great food at the new stadium so I thought it would be fun to go. I went with Rosebud's Cottage to a "Bindings and Baseball" event. What could be better than a game where you could sew?

I got to ride the Northstar commuter rail downtown for the first time. I met lots of interesting people on the train. The train was packed, and my seatmates both down and back were riding for the first time too.

Look at this brick mural that I saw on a parking ramp as I was walking to the entrance - wouldn't this make a great quilt?

And these bricks were really pretty - they remind me of a Yellow Brick Road quilt that I made all in neutrals. Look at the sky - we weren't sure if we'd be soaked or not - it rained all day and was cloudy right up until game time and then the sun came out YAY! (better light for stitching of course)

 

I think the stripey pattern in the field looks like it could be a strip quilt hmmmm . . . interesting angle.

Here's the view down my row - lots of binding getting sewn on. See the guy in the neon yellow shirt selling stuff? These guys were all over the stadium going up and down the rows, and it was fun to see how they were evenly spaced out - just like you'd space a bright color in a quilt. And about the food - I had planned to have one of the locally made brats - but they were touching sauerkraut on the grill, and I just couldn't do it! So I had a pork chop on a stick, yum, and kettle corn, and a beer in a plastic bottle.

There were lots of really fun quilters at the game. I met a quilter from Alaska that was in Minnesota for a family event. And look what Randi brought to the game - a Star Sprinkles quilt.  She quilted it on her long arm machine, using a pattern that was designed especially for the quilt.

What a fun time. When I got home, my hubby asked me what the score was - and of course I didn't know. He asked if the Twins won and I told him I was pretty sure they did . . .

Chocolate Cake or Jellyroll?

Would you rather have a piece of chocolate cake or a jellyroll? The lucky pattern testers at The Calico Hutch in Hayward Mn didn't have to choose - they got both! Carolyn made a yummy chocolate cake - with crushed Oreos in the middle for the testers of our "Popsicle Sticks" pattern. 

We also tested the pattern at Bear Patch in White Bear Lake and at Grubers in Waite Park. I got lots of great feedback on the pattern instructions, but the best part for me was seeing all of the wonderful color combinations. The lap size uses 2 Jellyrolls/Balipops or 25 fat quarters (including binding) and we had testers try it both ways. Some of them even cleaned out fabric from their stash. Here's some show and tell:

 

   

Another favorite part of testing patterns is watching how different personalities approach the same project. Which kind of quilter are you?

 

 

 

Two states, three quilt shops, and some Ambiance

 

The second day of our road trip began in Onalaska WI, and we were waiting in the parking lot when the Olive Juice Quilt Shop opened. Lots of fun fabric was waiting for us inside.

Here's Liz in one of the fabric rooms.

And here I am with shopowner Diane. 

And here's an American Girl - is that Molly?

  

Look at these creative ornaments - one filled with selvedges and one filled with pins!

Our next stop was River Road Quilts in LaCrosse, where we found a Fire Escape quilt hanging behind the cutting counter. The shop has a huge gift section in addition to a Christmas tree lot full of beautiful trees and handmade wreaths.

 

I think I want a yo-yo garland on my tree like theirs. 

Here's a yo-yo tree in progress - hmmmm . . . I wonder if I have enough greens in my stash to make one of these? How do these girls find time to do all of this fun stuff?

We headed south to Yellow Bird Art in Lansing Iowa - only a half an hour away.

 

Even more yummy stuff in here. They told us about the Ambiance Gift Shop in LaCrosse - which of course was conveniently on the way home. So we headed back across the border to Wisconsin.

Frank Sinatra was waiting for us in the bathroom at the Ambiance Gift shop - but we didn't spend much time with him because there were two floors of antiques, decorating, furniture and fun stuff.

Every single display was inviting - we actually went through twice so that we could really enjoy everything.

Liz found a metal shelf with bins for her kitchen, and I found this book rack. The shop owner is retiring and will be closing in the spring - we'll have to stop back again soon.

And then for our last stop - right around the corner to Kick Shoes. Almost dark again - and time to head home.

Are We There Yet?

last week Liz and I took off for a little road trip - something we haven't been able to do in ages. We left my house in the morning and actually thought we could get to LaCrosse before the quilt shop closed at 4:00. That was a silly plan - at 3:00 we were still in Redwing. We got a little sidetracked at Redwing Pottery - they have every single color of Fiesta and we couldn't resist! Then we went next door to our favorite antique mall - Pottery Place Antiques, which has all of our favorite kinds of glassware and pottery.

 

You can never have too much turquoise.

And red never goes out of style!

They always have a fun Christmas display - one year they had a tree decorated with red and green crocheted potholders and cookie cutters. This year my favorite was a "railing tree" with vintage ornaments.

It was almost dark by the time we finally left Redwing, and we headed south on Hwy 61. Lark Toys was still open, so we pulled in. Here's the sign in book in the entryway, which set the mood for a fun experience. We loved the huge display of antique toys. Many of our childhood toys were in the display cases with the antiques - and we had fun reminiscing.

There is a big carousel with hand carved animals - not just horses, but frogs and flamingos and birds and fish. It runs every half hour.

 

This Minnesota moose was watching the carousel from the sidelines.

 

We finally made it to LaCrosse and had a great meal downtown at Piggy's. On the way to our hotel, we came across the Rotary Lights display in Riverside Park. Over 2 million lights are used in the displays, and donations are collected for 8 area food shelves. There was a live nativity, a choir and tons of lights! I think my favorite was the elephant squirting water.  Whew, we had a great day - and tomorrow we'll get to the quilt shops.

White Christmas

I got home safely from my New York trip right before Thanksgiving - and somehow that turkey just flew by! Now all of a sudden it's December and I'm ready for a white Christmas. Not the snowy kind yet - but I think a white tree would be fun! This tree would go with my half done quilt - you know, the one that I was going to finish during the blog hop.

 

I stopped at Tammy Tadd's in Sycamore Illinois on my way home from New York. Here I am with Tammy next to that scrumptious tree. Wouldn't it look great in my living room? Tammy had wonderful Christmas decorations up everywhere - even in the bathroom. 

This bed is on the other side of Tammy - my Christmas quilt (the unfinished one) would look great with those flannel sheets - and maybe Santa will bring me that embroidered pillow this Christmas . . .

 

This creative quilter made a wreath out of our Happy Holidays pattern - and she just happened to stop in the shop when I was there. She strip pieced the center triangles in green and tan and added background to make a banner shape. I love the red piping next to the binding!

 

Right around the corner from the Christmas display I found these great batik quilts - Snapshots from the Happy Hour book, and Fire Escape. Yummy!

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!