notes from Terry Ann

You're never too old to play with dolls!

Yesterday my daughter Megan (age 19) and I popped into the new American Girl store at the Mall of America. We had a great time browsing and looking at all of the new dolls and their outfits. I think there are twice as many as there used to be. 

We enjoyed dinner in the American Girl restaurant. The pink tables were set with cloth napkins - and every napkin ring had a special word inside - mine was "strong" and Megan's was "brave".

As we entered the restaurant, there were lots of "children" waiting in high chairs. We got to pick whichever one we wanted to bring to our table!

Here's Megan with the little boy that we adopted during our meal. We named him Tommy, and his high chair hooked right up to the edge of the table. The chef personally delivered our food and it was really good. What fun!! We were too full for dessert, so next time we go we're going to skip the meal and just get the chocolate fondue. . .

And the winners are . . .

I've pulled 5 random names from this week's 337 comments to win my new Fat Quarter Fonts book. The winners are: Vicki E, Priscilla H., Laura F., Angela, and Deana! I've emailed the winners, and will send the books as soon as they arrive from the printer. Winners: remember to send me your snail mail address!

Now you see it, now you don't!

When we do a photo shoot for a book, sometimes there are things in the picture that you never get to see.  We needed a background for the zipper bags in our new Fat Quarter Fonts book, and had just the perfect bead board cabinet. In order to hide the knob, we propped a bench up using a picnic basket, raising the bags up to the center of the cabinet. Then we stacked everything including the cabinet on a table to make it an easier height for the photographer to shoot. You can even see the quilt from the previous picture behind everything.

Let me know who you'll make a zipper bag for and I'll enter you in next Tuesday's drawing for the new book. Guess which bag is for me?

Quilt testers get an A+

Last November, we had a fun group of quilt testers at Fat Quarter Quilts in Coon Rapids, MN to test patterns for our Fat Quarter Fonts Book. It didn't take them long to stitch some letters! Here are a few of the creative gals who shared their opinions on the instructions, what to include on the CD and more. They REALLY wanted me to add a second alphabet to the book, so I went back to the drawing board and came up with more letters.

Here is another Alphabet Quilt showing the second set of letters. Send me a comment to let me know which letter is your favorite in this quilt, and I'll enter you in next Tuesday's drawing to win one of these new books.

1978 was not the Bicentennial

Here is a needlepoint alphabet that I made to celebrate the Bicentennial in 1976. Look at the date on the bottom row and you'll see that I was just a little late. But only by 2 years! I think it was 1979 before I got around to getting it framed, but it was worth the wait because I loved it. Every time I look at it I remember the fun I had choosing all of the colors and drawing the letters out to fit in the squares.

I've always had the idea in the back of my mind that it would make a great quilt, and I had just as much fun this time around drawing the letters and choosing the colors. And here's the quilt that ended up on the cover of the Fat Quarter Fonts book. Send me a comment to let me know which letter is your favorite and I'll enter you in next Tuesday's drawing to win one of these new books.

What happened to the dingleberries?

Candace from Squash House Quilts calls them Boom-ba-letzkas, and Sharon from Red Geranium Cottage calls them dingleberries. What are they? Why, ball fringe, of course! Look at what I did with mine. This fun banner is one of the projects from my new book Fat Quarter Fonts which is going to the printer this week. Hooray! To celebrate the completion of this book, I will hold a drawing to give away 5 books, hot off the press! To enter, just tell me what you would write on your banner.  The drawing will be held Tuesday, January 26th.

Color Wheel or Rainbow?

This past week I've been testing a little bag for my next book, and every time I want to make another one I don't have the right color zipper. So I went to the dreaded big box fabric store and got one each of all the good colors to add to my stash. They didn't have the right off-white but I got it anyway. I grabbed some great ball fringe at the quilt shop and now I'm all set. Back to work, the book is almost done!

Beach Quilt

You might think this is an apple core quilt but it's not. Because the colors remind me of the ocean, I decided to give it a different name. Besides, anyone who has ever sewn a swimsuit knows that these "applecore" shapes look exactly like the crotch piece of a swimsuit! So you know when I say "Beach Quilt" I'm really thinking "Crotch Quilt"!

I can't believe the quilt top is actually finished! I rotary cut all the pieces at a Friday evening "Scrap Mania" at our local scrap booking store - of course I was the only one there with quilting. I made the rows at a quilting retreat last fall, and put them together at a friend's house over New Year's. I actually had to slow down for these curves, and that caused lots of whining because I'd rather drive really fast. But it was fun to sew something different than usual.

Last summer during a road trip we found the 8" applecore template at The Little Shop in Haddonfield, NJ. They had a really pretty sample hanging in the shop and I couldn't resist! It was fun to collect fat quarters of large scale prints as we traveled, and when we returned home I found lots more in my stash. Now the quilt is off to the quilter. It's getting a cozy flannel back, perfect for a Minnesota "Beach Quilt".

Puzzle Time

In anticipation of my daughter's return from London, I stocked up on some fun puzzles. Here is the second one we've finished since her arrival on December 23rd. There are two missing pieces which our kitty has carried off to another part of the house. I enjoy the colors - and was amazed by how many shades of off-white, grey, beige and yellow were in the white dice. Notice the fabric bowl full of Hot Tamales - my friend Cindy made two bowls for me for Christmas - but the one full of Sugar Babies didn't last long. This one is running low - probably won't last for another puzzle. You know when I refill them I'll use carrot sticks!