notes from Terry Ann

Testing 1, 2, 3

Bands do a sound check before a concert, with a tech crew to adjust the sound levels and microphones until everything sounds exactly right. I like to do a test class before releasing a new pattern, with quilters as my "crew" to help find mistakes and give me feedback about whether the instructions are easy to understand.

It's time again to test a brand new quilt pattern - this time we'll be testing "Piecrust Pileup" at the Calico Hutch in Hayward, MN on Tuesday, April 14th. The quilt is made using fat quarters (18" x 21"), jelly rolls (2-1/2" strips) or honeybuns (1-1/2" strips). The shop is providing refreshments and dessert and I'll bring show and tell  - should be fun! Contact the Calico Hutch to sign up.

So I guess I'd better get that second quilt done  - can you tell which quilt in the photo above is in pieces on my design wall??

Speedy Delivery!

Here's a sneak peek at "Neutral Territory", the new fabric line that Liz Lois and I have designed for Red Rooster fabrics. It's a few months until it will be in quilt shops, but our sample yardage was just delivered. It came rolled on tubes in a huge box, which I forced myself not to open until I finished my list of to-do's! (I am so easily distracted that I actually had to put the box in the garage because I knew I'd drop everything and get started sewing with it as soon as it came in the house!) The first thing I did was cut fat quarters of each print to play with - what fun to arrange and rearrange them in order to plan some yummy quilts! Here's just one of the combinations that I came up with:

And of course, it's important to check how the fabric coordinates with my Fiesta . . . did you know that the new Fiesta color this year was brown? Here are my brown dishes with a few other Fiesta colors!

And of course, the Neutral Territory fabric goes with my Fiesta - doesn't everything? I can see some wonderful table runners in my future . . .

Liz came over last weekend so we could put our heads together and plan a quilt for the new fabric. We had so much fun we completely forgot to get the camera out for some shots of us "working". But we did find time to make matching Tag Along Totes - so we can be like the San Francisco Twins! Here's mine: