Totally shocked Quilter

From time-to-time I take just a teensy weeny peek at the statistics on my blog.  There are actually those of you who are so loyal, so amazingly faithful to me that you are kind enough to check in on me even when I have been very very bad.....beyond neglectful.  I don't deserve any of you.  Consider yourselves hugged.....heck, just go and give yourself a big fat kiss from me, too.  I am nothing if not generous....

The show in Paducah was grrrrreat.  We were placed in a new spot this year.  Even though we were way over in a corner at the very back of the building, we managed to set a personal best as far as sales are concerned.  The folks were delightful from the AQS personnel, to the shoppers, to the fellow vendors, to the sweet young fireman/EMT who came to ou booth to drool over my daughter.

As you can see from the hour that I am writing this, I should be heading to bed.  So, more later, I just hope it is sooner rather than too much later.  Again, kiss kiss.

Quilter Lovin' It

Truthfully, I love a lot of things.  That can be a problem, especially when it comes to clothes, food, fabric, quilting,jewelry, shopping,  painting, do-nuts,  slot machines ....you get the idea.  Right now, I am in love with the weather.  That is a rare statement coming from someone who lives in northern Lose-iana.  The usual weather is hot, or humid, or hot and humid.  These last few weeks? GORGEOUS.  Dogwoods are in full bloom, even ones that do not usually have blooms.  Azaleas, just WOW.  Roses, AMAZING. Now, lucky me, I get to prolong this time of year by heading North. 

Good news, I hope I hope I hope.  My strike-offs are in the U.S.  Sadly, that does not mean it is in my hands at this second.  I have to wait a few more days because it will be waiting for me in Paducah.

Addictive Quilter

I have always known that I had a tendency to have an addictive personality.  Thank Heavens I did not take up smoking, drinking, or drugs.  The scary part???  I have discovered CASINOS.  I just love the slots.  It used to be doughnuts.  My car turned automatically into the Krispy Kreme parking lots.  I tried to resist, screaming at my kids, "Grab the wheel. Pull."

  But, it was a fight we often lost.  What else was I to do?  We were already in the parking lot....so, I bought, and ate, wonderfully warm, fresh, gooey, delicious doughnuts.

Now, it is Casinos.  On the way home from Schaumburg, we stopped at two casinos.  In fact, we stayed at the second one until 2 a.m.   After sleeping a couple of hours in a WalMart parking lot, we arrived home around 8 a.m.  When I called Tom he asked if I won.  I said, "Sure, I won.   I won, then I lost, then I won, then I lost....."

Luckily, there are no casinos within a hour's drive from here...however, there is a doughnut shop in town.  It is not a Krispy Kreme, but, sometimes one has to be a bigger person and overlook small flaws.  Yeah, if I keep overlooking some of these flaws, I will be a lot bigger person.

Where has this Quilter been?

Are you kidding me?  I have been in the Never-Never-Land, in OZ, ...in The Cloud.  Wherever...By the way, I have no idea what this new term, the Cloud, means.  I guess someone figured out that the Earth just could not handle all the krappola that we as humans create all the time so they decided to clutter up the sky, as well.  Feed it to the Clouds, yeah, that's it.  It could be that when one goes to that Big Cloud in the Sky they will not be bored because there will be so much up there to check out.  An eternity's worth.

As for my fabric, sadly, I cannot say that you guys have exactly bombarded me with orders.  I consider this to be a bad sign and am wondering if I have made a HUGE mistake by ordering thousands of yards of the stuff.  Gulp.  Oh well, too late now.  The first of the fabric will be in my hands by next Friday.  If everything checks out and there are minimal changes, then the entire batch will be made and in my hands in a few weeks. My first order of business will be to use up a good bit of it making samples for Market in Oregon. But, first, we will be headed to Paducah, Kentucky, and plan to show off the fabric then.  I will be taking pre-orders there as well.  If you are able to walk, run, fly, or use magic, you should get thyself to the AQS show in Paducah.  The town is charming, the quilt show is fabulous, there are a bazillion vendors selling everything from quilting supplies to shoes and jewelry.  Waaaay fun. Hope to see you there.

Quilter Wakes Up

Slap, slap.  Back to Reality.  As my dear friend said the other day,"I buried my head in the sand but every time I took it out, the world was still there."  Honestly, I like my life.  I love where I am in this phase.  That is not to say there are not things that I would change.  The changes are obvious--my husband would be here, beside me, ALL of the time ( ok, so I would let him potty allllll by himself), my sister, mother, and father would be in my arms instead of the Angels', my daughter-in-law would get her just rewards, and, I would actually be making a Profit.  Like I said, back to Reality.

FABRIC STUFF:  If you are interested in ordering any of my new fabric line, Gabbi's Rose, please do not hesitate to call me at 318-243-2983 or email me at sales@quiltinacup.com  When the fabric arrives it will retail for $10.99.  We are pre-selling yardage for $8.99 with a minimum order of 3 yards, total.

QUILTING ARTS segment:  Airs sometime around the latter part of July.

WHERE ARE WE?  Schaumburg, Illinois, @ the Original Sewing and Quilt Show, Schaumburg Convention Center, April 4-6,  10:00-6:00

Quilter's Quandry

We have a dilemma  in front of us.....we are in between shows and the taping without enough time to drive home and then turn around and get back for the Schaumburg Show.  This gives Brandy and me three days without a sewing machine!!! Or, a computer!!  What does one do in these dire situations?

I seem to recall in the T.B.Q.. (Time Before Quilting) that there were days where we read books....did a little knitting....needlepoint.... Cooking..(there must be a mistake.  Forget that I wrote that)....Cleaning (DEFINITELY FORGET I WROTE THAT.  Shake it off, Dianne.  It must be all the sleep I have been getting.  I am not in my write mind.  Apparently, too much sleep and relaxation can warp one's thinking)....

Such trials life can give us.  But we are women; we are creative..first, we overslept.  Next, we spent the day at the Chicago Art Institute ; we had lunch out.  We shopped.  We overslept, again.  We watched television without fabric and a cutting table in front of us.  I did not know the television even worked without a pair of scissors in my hand and the sewing machine plugged in and on. Now, today, we are exploring the countryside.  I could get used to this.....

Roaming quilters

What on earth will we do with ourselves??  We will arrive at our hotel around 10 tonight.   Our set up is not scheduled until Wednesday.  Not only have we already done the mani-pedi thingie, we even got a perm for Brandy.  She looks great, by the way.   Hmmmmm.  I suppose I could try to find somewhere to shop......are there any good places to shop in Chicago???

Quilters On the road to Clleveland

Planned departure time:  6:00 a.m.  Actual departure time:  11:30 a.m.  Even by Dianne/Brandy standards, this was running just a little late.   As we headed out to Cleveland for the taping,  the weather map showed a Huge Front that was directly ahead of us.  So, we chose a path that would make it less likely that we would run into Mother Nature's fury.  Day one of our drive, we were like The Driven, not doing our usual "bunny-hop" style of driving for fear of running into snow--such good girls.

Day two, the sweet GPS said our arrival time should be around 4 in the afternoon.  Wow, we can sooo relax.  We can sooo enjoy the ride....we can resume our usual mode of travel...We even stopped at a casino and won a teensy bit of $$.  We had a casual, not-so-great meal.  Drove through gorgeous country while listening to music, singing our heads off.  (Thank your lucky stars that we did not record THAT for you.)  We took our sweet time with everything....bragging to my husband how brilliant we were to have been so clever to have taken this particular route...no snow here!!!!! ......yeah, RIGHT.  We not only hit snow, it was a friggin blizzard.  Our arrival time?  How about a little reality check, Dianne.  We arrived after midnight! So much for a relaxed, early arrival.

Neglectful Quilter

I know, I know, no one has to remind me how incredibly neglectful I have been about posting new Threads. One would think by peeking in my drawers that I would have enough Thread to last a lifetime.  Wrong Thread....

Oh well.  It is not for lack of thinking about writing.  We arrived home around 2 a.m. Thursday morning.  We actually hit snow on the way home.  I was freaking out.  The last time I drove through snow I was innocently driving, slowly, I might add, and suddenly, without warning, I slid off the road into a ditch.  Now, I am pulling a trailer???  GULP. Luckily, all went well.  We actually got a kick out of seeing everything white.  Like a bride's dress, it often makes the image before you the most beautiful it can be.

Our lecture at the Hattiesburg Guild was delightful, at least speaking for myself.  The ladies were very complimentary and supportive of my jokes.  Always a good thing.  My fears always include, am I boring, am I talking too much, (hmmm, that is a given), are they sorry they asked me to come???  As long as the answer to those questions, is, "no," then I am good.  I hope they enjoy the items they bought, can understand my directions, and they are interested in having me come, again, in the future.  Time will tell.

Speaking of telling, I have some exciting stuff happening.  One of the machine companies is getting ready to produce luggage with my fabric designs on them.  Does it get much better than that?  Don't tell anyone but I would almost pay them to do this, heh heh.  The fabric is being printed as we speak.  Hey, you guys might just need to buy one of these machines just so you can get one of the pieces of luggage, right????  As soon as I get the "go" I will share the company's name.  They might just be one my of new BFF's!!!!!

And, with any luck, my fabric company will be officially "with fabric" (right now it is more like "with child") by the end of April.  I know that I mentioned this before but for me this is good enough stuff to be mentioned more than once, so brace yourselves.

Tomorrow, we head to Ohio so we can tape the segment for Quilting Arts television.  If it turns out all right, I will post when the show airs.  Otherwise, you will not hear a word from me...silence will be my middle name.  yeah, right.

And, finally, if you are near Schaumburg, Illinois, please come see me at the Original Sewing Expo, the weekend after this one. I need my hugs and kisses.

I am sitting in the marshaling yard in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, as I write.  Not only is it friggin' freezing cold but I have been sitting in this line, waiting to load up the trailer for one hour and I might have moved 50 feet in that time.  Now I just found out that the freight elevator is broken and they have no idea when we will get moving, again.  And, I have to peeeeeee.

 The good part is the fact that this show set a record "best sales," for us for the second year in a row.  And I did not have to pull anyone in off the street to beg them to buy.  Yippeeee.

Also, I gave the "go ahead" to print, so, say a little....heck.  Say a HUGE prayer that all goes well and that my fabric arrives before the end of April.  Send all those good vibes, all the good karma, all the positive thoughts in my direction.