A funny thing happened today…

I got a call from Patti, a woman in California who wanted to purchase my Polka Party pattern. She said she had seen it in a magazine in an ad for HandiQuilter. "What?" I said. "Where did you see it?" I wanted to make sure it was my pattern she wanted before I sent it to her. She told me what magazine (American Patchwork & Quilting) and what page (page 7 of the December issue) and I ran to my bedroom, dug through my magazines, and found it, flipped to page 7 and saw this:


Yes! It was one block from my my Polka Party pattern. That's it, to the lower left of the machine! Here's the front cover of the magazine:



Here's a photo of the small wallhanging I made for the "Polka Party" pattern:


And here's a photo of the larger king-sized quilt I made using the same block. I used up my scraps on the border (which is not part of the original Polka Party pattern). Sorry, this is not a great photo... this baby is so huge that it is hard to photograph!



Patti had liked the design so much that she had gone to the trouble of calling HandiQuilter and tracking me down. I was thrilled! Thanks, Patti!

A new vest

I just finished making this vest, using Virginia Robertson's “Long Vest/Jacket” pattern, this weekend. I used mostly Lonni Rossi fabrics (I simply adore her designs; they are really arty) that I had been hoarding for a few years. I don't usually work in brown, so this is a bit of a departure for me. It really is long – about mid calf, but it would be just as cute shorter. These photos show less than half the length of the full vest.

Here’s the back, showing the details I added with little bits of dupioni silk and threadwork:





My eight-year-old daughter has declared it “too weird for me!”