Could it be more fabric?

I just can't resist a sale! I patiently waited all afternoon for the UPS man to deliver my latest little fabric purchase... I love package tracking! My order was timed perfectly to be delivered at a time when I would be home alone. I heard the truck, and as they say timing is everything. As I looked out the window I saw my husband arrive home early. As he stopped at the mailbox the UPS man pulled up, handed him MY box, and said "I know what this is!!", as if he had seen boxes like this before. LOL

Mmmm, yummy!

A bright sunny day after hurricane Earl passed by... what better to do than pick raspberries! Have a delicious day, everyone!

You can never have too many.....

Scissors! Family members borrow them and they disappear. Friends borrow them and they disappear. Pets borrow them and they disappear. They just seem to disappear into thin air.

The real reason I have so many scissors is because when I am quilting on my longarm I need to clip a lot of threads. I choose a color that does NOT match the quilt, so that when I set them down I can see them. Then they do NOT disappear!

Happy Friday the 13th, it's a lucky day!

My First Accuquilt Project

As I posted a few days ago, I have a new Accuquilt Studio die cutter. It is an amazing tool for cutting precise fabric shapes for quilt piecing. My first project used the tumbler block. The pieces were all exactly the same size, and they fit together perfectly. I've always wanted to make a pink and green quilt, and this seemed to be the perfect opportunity! I pieced it, and then quilted it on my Statler Stitcher with a beautiful feather design.

My New Quilting Tool

A few months ago I was at the AQS Quilt Show in Lancaster, PA and I bought a new tool for my business. I had done the research and decided what I wanted, and they had a deal I just couldn't resist! This is what the UPS man delivered...

The Accuquilt Studio is a die cutting tool for cutting fabric for quilting. It cuts multiple shapes that are very accurate and all exactly the same. I bought dies to cut squares, triangles, strips, hearts, cats, tumblers, and lots more.

Stay tuned to see what I can do with this wonderful tool!

Cass Scenic Railroad

We recently attended the Cass Scenic Railroad Railfan Weekend in Cass, WV. Three days of riding the rails and taking photos of these Titans of the Mountains. It was awesome!

Machine Quilters Expo 2010

The 2010 Machine Quilters Expo (MQX) was held in Providence, RI last week. It was fabulous! Great classes, spectacular quilts, old friends, new friends, and lots of cool stuff to buy :-) I had 12 hours of classes with Al Hutchins, he is a fantastic teacher. I learned a lot about Creative Studio, the software that runs my Statler Stitcher. It is an amazing system, and I am looking forward to finding some time to experiment with all the new things I learned.

Lots of beautiful thread. Buying thread is almost as addictive as buying fabric. I bought some new colors, and some different types of thread to try.

Spectacular quilts! There were many different categories of quilts, including edge to edge, custom, heirloom, wallhangings, and challenge. They were all magnificent. I really enjoy the ideas and the inspiration, both for piecing and quilting!

Longarm machines to play with. A lot of people come to the show to see the different machine manufacturers and decide which one they like the best.

Vendors to visit. There was all sorts of cool stuff to buy. New tools, thread, replacement machine parts, thread, fabric, more thread, new rulers. Did I mention thread?

Quilted wearables exhibit. Another category of the competition is the wearables. Interesting clothing items, but I'm not sure I would want to wear most of them!

Demos. Gale is hard at work. Is he demonstrating something on the Statler Stitcher in Cowle's Quilting booth, or is he spying?

Friends! Gale Tuper was demonstrating one of the Cowle's Quilting Statler Stitchers in Anne Bright's booth. Anne designs patterns for paper pantos and digital designs for computerized machines. She is really nice, and a lot of fun! Ask her about the bear shaped cloud ;-)

More friends! Darryl and his other brother Darryl ;-) We had lots of laughs! (For those of you who dare to ask... Larry, Darryl, and Darryl were from the "Newhart" sitcom).

How often do you get to have your picture taken with the two people who own MQX? Thank you Mary and Janet-Lee. Another fantastic MQX! See you next year!

AQS Lancaster Quilt Show

I went to the AQS Lancaster Quilt Show with a friend on March 25-26. We had a lot of fun, stopping at several fabric shops on the way, and more on the way home! If you are ever in the area, you must stop at Hayloft Fabrics in Morgantown, PA. They claim to have over 8000 bolts of quilting fabric. I didn't count, but they had at least that many!

The show was interesting. A lot of art quilts, but I wish there had been more traditional bed quilts on display. There were hundreds of vendors, and crowds of people! I attended three lectures, and they were all very informative. We are not allowed to post photos of the quilts, but here are a few pictures of the quilters :-)

On the way home we stopped in Lititz, PA and stocked up on Wilbur Buds at the Wilbur Chocolate factory. It is the best chocolate in the world :-)

Teddy Bear Quilt

I made this baby quilt, it is a Turning Twenty pattern using primary colors, teddy bears, numbers and alphabets. I quilted it on my Statler Stitcher. I love the teddy bear quilted design!

The backing is little teddy bears. They are so cute!

Visit my website at www.ValentineQuiltworks.com!

Castle in the Clouds

Castle in the Clouds is an amazing place in Moultonborough, New Hampshire. We have been there many times, and used to take the tour. We would go down to the spring to see where the Castle Springs water originated, and then see it being bottled. The spring was sold, but sometimes we can find that wonderful bottled water! Bottled at the source, in Moultonborough, NH.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I Love Quilts

A picture is worth a thousand words :-) I used fusible applique for the letters, added the borders, and then quilted it on my Statler Stitcher. The quilting design is called Celtic Hearts, stitched with red variegated thread.

A Bloggy Question

I'm a visual person, I like pictures. When you look at a blog, do you like to read lots of stuff, or do you prefer to browse pictures with short explanations?