Lisa Bongean's Weblog

Sneak peak here of the first 3 blocks of Civil War Chronicles…this looks so much better than the cheezy poster they gave us….Block of the Month that is starting in Jan…Jess is making it and she says the directions are much better than the first quilt.

Can you say super srappy—

Kim Diehl’s new book has arrived at the shop…it even has a couple of wool projects!

Well I am at 1 day now with out any sugar…after the “cake fest” I think I need to sacrifice a few days and not even have my usual Dove dark chocolates…but I will survive and hopefully those 5lbs will magically disappear before I know it…who am i kidding…i will have to do extra workouts…but anyway….Here are a few more items that are new offerings at Fall Market/Festival…Tulip Basket is 8×18 and is perfect for a gift or to keep all for yourself. $7 pattern and $18 kit w/pattern.    All hearts come home for Christmas is also a perfect gift with a candle, little tree skirt for your little tree.   There is not a lot of wool in this one, but the stitchery is fun and it goes fast.  Pattern $8, kit w/pattern $25.  All wool mats include backing also… then there is the Primitive Pinwheels…this is a fun little quilt that is made using a twister template.  just sew squares together, cut your the squares using the template, piece the “new” squares back together and you get this.  You also could add another border if you wish.. $10 for pattern with plastic template and $20 for kit/pattern with pre-cut 3 1/2″ squares.

HERE IS THE QUILT THAT WAS IN THE GREAT FLOOD THIS SUMMER…I HAD ALL OF MY BLOCKS LAID OUT ON MY FLOOR OF COARSE AND MY DEAR MOTHER TOOK HOME ALL OF MY 6″ BLOCKS AND WASHED AND DRYED THEM!…NEEDLESS TO SAY..THEY ALL IRONED OUT, PROBABLY BECAUSE I SPRAY-SIZED AND PRESHRUNK THEM  BEFORE I MADE THEM—SEE SIZE MATTERS AT THE TOP OF THIS BLOG….THIS  QUILT IS MADE WITH JEANNE HORTONS FABRIC LINES, WORN & LOVED II AND SIMPLER TYMES.  IT HAS A WORN AND TIMELESS LOOK ABOUT…IT IS SO MUCH MORE MUSHY AND OLD LOOKING IN PERSON…COME SEE IT SOMETIME…THE KITS ARE $125 WITH PATTERN…PATTERN IS $8…WE WILL HAVE THEM IN HOUSTON AND AT THE SHOP!

Yesterday was the 40% off coupon on one item at the store in celebration of me surviving another year of being a shop owner, pattern/book/fabric designer, teacher and soon to be retreat owner….I hope you all received something grand and used this coupon wisely and saved a bunch of money…i know it was limited on what you could use it on, but this girl needs to stay in business so you can all continue this madness we call being a quilter.  Now on to my presents…first of all you need to know one of my favorite things in the world is birthday and wedding cake…I try to talk my friends into crashing weddings just so I can taste their cake….ok…I only suggested it, I never followed through with it…and I also don’t like just any cake…it has to come from Vande Walles Candy in Appleton…it is the best…so Nick didn’t let me down and when I arrived home on Sat. he had this waiting for me…good thing it was only 7″ because we each slabbed off a huge 

piece and savored every bite.  I have not had too much cake lately so this was long overdue…remember the trainer…she keeps to good of watch over me…I also am not afraid to eat it…I work hard exercising that a little cake will not hurt…ok…it wasn’t a little..but I just have to compensate for it…I forgot to get rid of that “stuff” on the cupboard but oh well I am sure you have junk on your cupboard too…so you won’t mind….it’s just all a bunch of recipes….Nick also bought me clothes…he actually went shopping on his own and picked out 3 outfits including the under tank-shirt as well….I am sure he had a little help…but they we all nice and I don’t think I have to return one thing…they even had a file in the computer on what size jeans I wore…mmmm make me wonder when they did that?  I also got a bunch of presents from Carole…my book partner and such…she always know what I want…she found a glass juicer for me because she remembers me complaining I couldn’t find mine…she made me a quilt like hers, because she knew I loved hers…and a butter dish, old books for my shelves…a redware plate…she spoiled me…This is a great Cheddar quilt with 1″ 4-patches….I have to find a spot to hang this baby…I just finished today with my Market brouchure and other paper stuff that we need to bring to Houston….just have to print it now…We also will be selling our own #24 Chenille Needles retail only .  I am so sick of going to a big show with no needles for wool applique. The distributors never carry enough of them and they have been out of stock since June….How am I supposed to run a

business and teach if we have no needles!  So I have  contacted a needle suppler and they are selling them to me by the 1000 and we are packaging our own…this is no small feat however and it takes a lot of labor to stick those needles in the wool as nicely as possible…here is what they are looking like…we also have new 5″ wool charms for Houston and the shop…look for those soon too…here is a peek of what we have packaged already…

The presses are rolling and we should hopefully have books maybe today? Just in time to pack the trailer for Houston…we all have been busy making new swatch charts for our wools, cutting little 5″ Charms of our wool textures, assembling #24 Chenille needles (from Bohin) into our own needle packs to sell.  I can’t stand not having needles to sell to our wool customers, so we are packing our own and not relying on the distributors to have enough on hand for us.  We also have been making 3 1/2″  &  5″ 100 print light/dark charm packs to go with our cool book…It is 24 pages of all color!  14 samples of little quilts ranging from 9″x12″ to 30″x 40″ ish for the biggest ones.  Our book is a workbook for turning 2 squares into 2 nine patches, not using the strip method, and not cutting 9 squares either.  Start with this…and you would end with this….Then you can sit down with a pack of light and dark charms and make tons of nine patches one day…the next you decide what you are going to make with them all!  The quilts in the book are cute as all heck done little, but who’s to say you can’t do them bed size or lap size?  The possibilities are endless.  I will have the books, charms and bundles and kits available Monday on the site, hopefully.  Just a little preview here…and look for more new stuff too!

Well, what can I say… it was so great to meet all the wonderful Southern Ladies at the Atlanta GA quilt show…they were  all so nice and pleasant…not in any kind of hurry…and not a one left a bomb (fart) in the booth.   I know it is probably not lady like to say that “f” word but you have to remember I was surrounded my men my whole life and it is just a fact.  Even on Oprah farts are exceptable, she talks about it all the time, I hear…so please forgive me if it offended you.  So Georgia and its Ladies were wonderful…I taught 3 classes and the show was 3 days.  I only had to work the booth for 3-half days…so I felt guilty about that, but teaching is hard work too!  It feels so good to be home, even if it is only for a week or so before we shove off for the last show of the year in Houston, where we have Quilt Market and Festival…so that will be about 11 days for me and 16 for Nick…but then it is over for a couple of months.  I got home yesterday about noon and Nick arrived home at 6pm.  He drove for 15 hours straight only stopping for gas.  I puttered around for most of the afternoon watching the football games while I made these Pumpkin Muffins…I am testing some recipes for THE GATHERING  and these will for sure be on the list.  I added Hickory Nuts to the recipe and they need to have more chocolate chips than the recipe called for, imagine that…so we will make those adjustments.  They also were made with only a half cup of oil and half cup applesauce for fat!  They turned out awesome, probably because of the three cups of sugar!  They made 24 big muffins and 24 little muffins. The big ones are for Nick and the little ones are for me…is that fair?  …Here is Nick with his little friend ZaZu…my son Luke went off to college and we got the bird-don’t say a word…I know…but Nick loves her…he looks a little tired doesn’t he…

I know I have not kept you updated on our highschool football team…they are 6-1.  They did lose to Kimberly, even though I think the coaches lost it for them…they are a running team. So in a 21-21 ball game at the half why would you come out throwing the ball all four downs????…can you say interception?  So after that they lost their steam and lost 35-21 I think? that was the score…So now for the latest news…it was Homecoming this last Saturday night and our Quarterback and best Wide receiver thought it would be cool to go to the dance after drinking a few…so of course they got caught…I wish these kids knew that not only did they let their teammates and coaches down…they let all of us down, this whole community…I wish they knew how overrated drinking is and that they have the rest of their lives to do those things…they will not have the rest of their lives to play High School football…BUT… we do have a very good Sophomore QB…so maybe????We have one more regular season game to play and then the playoffs…I wish them luck, they will need it now…

Well another show is off the books…I just kissed Nick goodbye and he is off to Atlanta…we had enough time to unpack, repack, wash the clothes and pack them, sleep a couple of hours and he is off for our next adventure.  I am looking forward to Atlanta because we have never been to this show before or with this new company…Original Sewing & Quilt Expo… But DesMoines was a lot of fun and it was so nice to see everyone and meet a lot of new people…we had a few highlights to our weekend…first, Jo Morton stopped in to say HI, and we had to photograph her in front of our newest quilt from her book…Sue H., who made this quilt, is a big “Jo” fan.  She will love this photo.  I met up with Lynn, Marilyn and Julie from a guild in Coucil ID, where I did a workshop awhile back…We also had a stow-a-way this show.  Carole’s husband Ray must have thought she would miss her rubber chicken so he packed it in her suit case for her…well it showed up in some pretty surprising places, but the best one was in our friend Stacy’s booth from Buttermilk Basin…it was hanging out awhile before someone told her about it…she didn’t even notice, but she was laughing so hard she was almost choking when it was pointed out…It is a lot of fun to hang out with the other “venders”…On Friday night…Debbie Fields and Delores from Granola Girl, Tara from Sew Unique Designs, Penny Haren, who writes books for Landauer and designs rulers and a bunch more things, Kitty from Landauer, Stacy and Jodi from Buttermilk Basin, Nick, Carole and I all went out to the Highlife Lounge…we had a blast and the food was great…ask Stacy about her “Pot roast” when you see her…or send her an email, she didn’t want to go to this establishment when we first told her about it….So all in all it was a lot of fun…I will post some quilts tomorrow…off to kickboxing class..

Stacy & me....

Stacy's new prop...

Got to have this book!…it looks like a magazine but it has a soft binding on it and the pages are better quality then a magazine…but the quilts are wonderful and scrappy what more could you ask for…speaking of scrappy…look at those nine patch quilts under it…I will show you a few at a time…remember…the book with the 14 nine patches has a cool method of making 9 patches, so you are going to learn something too…not just another book of little quilts here…great for sewing groups to exchange reproduction charms and just so much fun!

I have just finished the directions for Peony Wreath…it is 22″ square and features 1 1/2″ nine patches…Carole quilted this little beauty for me with her tiny meandering and great border quilting…it looks a little bright on my computer than it is in real life…I use my sample of my primitive muslin that Moda has made for us…Coming in December!  To all of you in the area there is a quilt show put on by Darting Needles Quilt Guild today at Fox Valley Lutheran High School…Stop in and see the quilts from this talented group.  I think the hours are 10-4pm